On 10th March the 1st VII Netball team took on the Old Suttonians (OS). The OS team consisted of some very strong players, including a few 1st VII players from last year including Emelia Bonny (2018 H), Naomi Lijesen (2018 C) and Rehannah Houghton–Judge (2018 L), so we knew the match was going to be tough. Losing last year made the 1st VII team eager for a win. The team worked immensely hard throughout the game. It took the first quarter for the 1st VII to adjust to their very tall defensive players including Naomi Lijesen and Mia Van Diepen (2015 F). Some unstoppable shooting from the OS player Lydia Davies (2015 H) meant the first quarter ended in a draw of 9-9. We decided to change strategies and swapped some positions around to take on the tall defence with Annabel Mansfield switching to GS to add some height into the shooting circle. This enabled us to rack up a stream of goals with great shooting from Jenna and Annabel.

The defence worked hard throughout the game and Desiree Loxton-Barnard, Ella Carter and Georgie Mancais where able to pick off a variety of balls from the OS attack and this enabled Jessica Richards and Charlotte Wooldridge to bring the ball up to our goal, continuing to add to the score sheet. OS Katie Latter (2016 F), Hannah Wood (1992 V) and Charlotte Douglas (2010 L) were tough defenders to face and did not make it easy for us to score.  We went into the last quarter of the game a few goals ahead. We did not relax but continued to work hard which resulted in us taking quite the lead and the final score ended in 36 – 25 to us. Thank you to OS President, Douglas Horner DL (1962 M) who presented us with the Worsfold Cup.  It was a really nice afternoon, the game was very enjoyable to play and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces! A huge thank you must go to Mrs Wilkinson, Miss McConnachie, Mr Radford and Mrs Kitchen for making this event possible.

Kate Woodford
1st VII Netball Captain.