WET and windy weather did Casterton Sandford no favours at the weekend, coming up against a tough North Gambier across the board in almost every grade.
But despite the wild conditions, every team took it up to the opposition, with juniors continuing to find their feet playing at senior levels.
The Cats 13 & Under Bs remained undefeated in their competition, while the B Graders took their fourth win for the season.
From the scribes
11 & UNDER
CASTERTON-Sandford’s Under 11s played in the wet and cold of the morning on Saturday - the ball was wet and slippery and their fingers were cold.
Throughout the whole game there was lots of loose and dropped ball, the Cats’ attackers, Cleo Longhurst, Hannah Davis, Skye Kurzman and Bailey Green soon worked out that their passes had to be short and sharp into their goalies, Imogen Watson and Sylvie Richardson.
Due to the conditions, the ball was turned over a lot for the whole game by the Cats girls and the North girls.
The vision of the Cats’ defenders, Mia carter, Abbie Fidler, Ruby James and Penelopi Papadimitriou, was unreal - they turned the ball into our possession in the defence goal ring, all game.
Our mid-court was run by Hannah Davis, Cleo Longhurst, Aubrey Mutch, Skye Kurzman, Bailey Green and Kate Henry, who attacked the ball unbelievably.
I was proud to see that every loose ball there was at least one Cat chasing it.
When it came to the end, North ran out the winners, 12 to 6.
The hardest part of the game was choosing the voucher winners - I could have given one to every single player, but there were only three.
A GRADE
THE Cats’ A Grade came up against a well-polished North Gambier side this week.
For the second week in a row, we started the game with two 17 & Unders - Ivy Lane and Madeline Patton - on the court and yet again they both played outstanding games.
Their consistency is going to continue to be an asset to the side throughout the 2023 season.
We started the first quarter with a few wayward passes, thanks to heavy gusts of wind, making it difficult to get a clean run into the goal circle.
The players soon adjusted the strength of release and we started to see some goals on the board towards the end of the first term.
The second quarter was where the attack line of Ivy Lane, Chelsey Galpin and Chloe Foster really started to gel and they settled into a nice groove.
Foster had some beautiful feeds into Lane and Galpin's well-timed leads and opened up space for Madeline Patton to drive through the middle, which resulted in an easy transition from defence to attack.
The height of the North GS was making it difficult to stop their run, so we made a change at half time in order to try a different approach.
Libby Altorfer moved from WD to GK and her speed and agility provided some beautiful intercepts, which we were able to convert.
Ebany Jarrad came out to GD, allowing her to get a run on and her drive through the middle was excellent.
We are glad to see Eb return from injury as she is a pivotal member of our defensive line-up.
These changes allowed Madalene Cleary to get back into the centre after playing a beautiful first half in GD.
Her drive through the middle and defensive pressure down the court is an important part of our team’s game.
It was excellent to see the Cats’ team give 100 per cent in the last quarter and continue to support and encourage each other as we put another 10 goals on the board.
North came away with a 90 to 34 win, but the Cats’ improvement over the past two weeks has been excellent and we are well on the way towards our first win.
Next week we face the undefeated West Gambier at home.
It would be good to have some new faces on the sidelines to cheer the girls on and give them some support and motivation.
A GRADE WEEKEND PREVIEW
CASTERTON Sandford is coming off a couple of tough weeks and it doesn’t get any easier at Island Park this weekend, when the Cats host the reigning premier, West Gambier.
The Roos are a scoring machine and coming off a confidence-building victory over Millicent, they will be tough to stop with Sarah Ritter and Lisa McGregor both capable of putting up big numbers in the shooting stakes.
Ebany Jarrad and Madalene Cleary are the most likely to take on the task of stopping the Roos’ goalers and they will be hoping Libby Altorfer and the always-improving Madeline Patton can make life tough for the West feeders and slow the ball movement.
At the other end of the court, West defenders Amy Cram and Jade Ritter are coming for a strong defensive game and they will certainly make Ivy Lane and Chelsey Galpin work for their scoring opportunities, but the young shooting combination is starting to find some chemistry and showed some promise in last weekend’s loss to North.
West is just too settled and well-drilled a combination to let this one slip.
