Swifts' Top Run Broken
Illawarra Mercury
Monday May 14, 2007
THE depleted Sydney Swifts had their record-breaking run of National Netball League wins snapped at 18 as they crashed 58-44 to Melbourne Kestrels at Launceston's Silverdome on Saturday night.
With five players on Australian team duty in England, Sydney led 14-9 at the first change. However, the previously winless Kestrels turned the game around in the second quarter, winning it 20-8, to establish a 29-22 half-time advantage. Shooters Caitlin Thwaites and national league rookie Ashlee Howard each made 10 of 11 attempts in the second quarter as the Kestrels fed the ball into the circle more effectively, with captain Chelsea Nash and Madison Browne swapping positions to wing attack and centre respectively. Sydney cut the deficit to six at the last change, but the Kestrels pulled away again in the final quarter. "We made a lot of unforced errors and perhaps a little bit of inexperience in not knowing each other well slipped into it," Sydney coach Julie Fitzgerald said. "I was very disappointed that it blew out so much. "We had a pretty good run at the end of the third quarter and brought it back to six, and I thought the last quarter could have been a lot closer, but we made some very silly errors." Asked about the record winning streak ending, Fitzgerald said: "I'm always sorry if I lose a match, but the streak never concerned me." Thwaites, who had been dogged by a knee injury over the previous two weeks, spearheaded the Kestrels' effort with 36 goals at 86 per cent. Debutante Julia Symons scored 21 goals at 88 per cent for Sydney, with former Australian squad member Megan Dehn tallying 16 goals at 70 per cent in her first match for the Swifts since 2005. It was Sydney's first loss since the 2005 grand final. Nash said the Kestrels were more steady in the second quarter after they got "caught up in the hype of the game", which was played in front of a capacity crowd of around 2000 spectators.
© 2007 Illawarra Mercury
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