In a tense final quarter, the Victorians scored five of the last six goals of the match to secure a four-goal victory.
The match was tied at three quarter time after a seesawing third quarter, the Victorians scored the first two goals of the final quarter to open up a small lead.
Goal Shooter Jhaniele Fowler then sprung into action, scoring three goals in a row to tie the scores once again.
With Fever trailing by two goals at the beginning of the supershot period, Nat Butler levelled scores once again with a supershot. Then Fever hit the front when Fowler scored from close range however, from there the Victorians re-gained control.
Fever Coach Dan Ryan said the Team’s focus after yesterday’s 14-goal loss was to put themselves in a winning position.
“We experienced in yesterday’s game that we could really challenge the boys in a number of different ways in how we played the game,” Ryan said.
“I thought we did some excellent stuff throughout that contest today. The work rate required to put ourselves in a winning position was huge and I thought the girls did a great job.”
Fever started the match full of energy and dominated the later stages of the first quarter. The entire starting seven brought exceptional defensive pressure and work rate which forced the Victorians to turn the ball over and Fever capitalised.
Captain Courtney Bruce along with Sunday Aryang and Jess Anstiss created a formidable defensive unit to help create opportunities. Fowler was proving more than a handful for the Victorian defence as Fever went into quarter time with a seven-goal buffer.
The Victorians came to play in the second quarter and the change of Cameron Allum to Goal Shooter created a focal point for their attacks.
The visitors scored the last five-goals of the first half including a supershoot from Brodie Roberts to go into the break with a one-point lead.
Ryan said the weekend of matches had sharpened Fever’s focus as they prepare to travel to Team Girls Cup.
“We will go and have a look at some of the keys areas that we can pull out of these two game where we can keep improving. I think more than anything it has consolidated that we are in a really good spot at this point in time.
“To be able to compete like we did today is great affirmation that we are doing some things really well in the training environment and getting the transfer.”
Ryan said he believed it was critically important that Netball continues to embrace the Men’s game.
“I love seeing the emergence of Men’s Netball and them probably getting the recognition of how critically valuable they are for our preparation,” he said.
“We know we probably had opportunities if we wanted to bring over some SSN teams for this pre-season but our priority was to challenge ourselves against the men.
“We’ve always seen the value, they prepare us exceptionally well and as much as it is good for them it is really great for us too.”
Fever’s next pre-season game will be against Sydney Swifts at Team Girls Cup on Friday 24 February.
| |
1/4 |
1/2 |
3/4 |
FT |
|---|
| West Coast Fever |
17 |
29 |
46 |
57 |
| Victorian Men’s |
10 |
30 |
46 |
61 |
Goals: Fowler 44 @ 98 per cent, Butler 6 @ 60 per cent and Cosh 4 @ 80 per cent.
Read Game One Match Report
