Netball is certainly the highlight of this week's match report, as each of our girls, and even some of our College House boys took part in the annual College v Gilson Netball game. Not only this, but Gilson House also partook in their annual Inter-House tournament.
Netball
Inter-House Netball
On Thursday 7 March, the girls of Gilson competed in the annual Inter-House Netball tournament. Each match was six minutes per side, so the girls knew they had to move quickly if they wanted to secure a win. There were ten games in total. The first match was Burr vs Everett; Everett won with a 4-2 lead. This game was closely followed by Skipwith vs Orchard. Skipwith received the first centre and the ball travelled quickly down to the yellow goal. The score was 6-3 to Skipwith.
The next game was Burr vs Welsh with a draw of 2-2. Skipwith and Everett played next and Skipwith secured a 4-2 win. Orchard played their second game against Welsh and the final score was 2-1 to Welsh. Burr and Skipwith played their third game with the score being 3-3. The next game consisted of Orchard and Everett battling it out, with Orchard securing their first win. Skipwith played their final game against Welsh and won it with an impressive 7-2 lead. The penultimate game was Burr vs Orchard and Orchard won with a score of 4-2. The final game was Welsh vs Everett: 5-3 to Welsh after a highly contested game.
The final ranking order was Burr and Everett in joint fourth place, Orchard in third, Welsh in second and Skipwith taking the first place prize! Well done to all the girls for playing and getting involved by supporting their House. All the girls played very well especially H Austin, L Morgan, S Griffin, L Stalder, and M Simpson, who all got player of the match. The girls played at a very high and competitive level and it was very nice for all the girls to have a sports session together.
College v Gilson
On Thursday 14 March, the annual College vs Gilson netball match took place. Following last year’s match, which ended in a win for the boys, it was all to play for. It was clear to see that the girls were more prepared for the match, considering that they had got down to the pitch early to warm up.
From the first whistle, it was also clear that the boys weren’t as experienced in the rules of netball as the girls were. However, five minutes into the game the boys began to understand the rules, and began to draw back the lead that the girls had taken. The score after the first quarter was 5-2 to the girls.
At the start of the second quarter, the boys had a good team talk from coach C Theodorou, and they came out stronger and they started to play more tactically. The girls didn’t let this affect their play, and T Wyatt managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over for the girls. However, R Cartwright continued to match the score for the boys. At the end of the second quarter, the boys managed to level the score at 8-8.
Going into the third quarter, everyone had ramped up his or her level of aggression, and it was all to play for. There were great moments of play from the boys, though they were quickly followed by mistakes by a few of their players. The girls used this to their advantage, and slowly came back at the boys. The score at the end of the third quarter was 15-17 to the boys. By the fourth quarter, everyone’s energy levels began to dip but this didn’t stop anyone. The boys were ahead by one point in the last three minutes of the game. However, the girls came back at the boys by scoring two consecutive goals, meaning that they took the lead. The final score was 21-20 to the girls.
Well done to everyone who played, players of the match went to M Fitzgerald and L Lyons. Thank you to G Stebbings and R Cartwright for organising the match, and thank you also to the umpires.
Football
Shiplake College 1st XI vs Mill Hill
Shiplake started the game and pressed Mill Hill well by ‘hunting in packs’. After just a few minutes, C Theodorou had the chance to bounce off a defender, and sent the ball flying past the keeper. 1-0 Shiplake. Not long after, the boys’ repeated pressure on Mill Hill forced a penalty, which C Theodorou placed comfortably past the keeper. The game began to change as Mill Hill began to panic after underestimating Shiplake’s capabilities. A physical battle ensued and in the remaining 15 minutes of the half, F Brown came up with a number of saves and maintained the 2-0 lead.
The second half saw a scrappy game, with chances for both teams. A moment of quality came from J Walne as a volley from his weak foot sent the ball into the bottom corner, making it 3-0. This only riled Mill Hill even more and the scrappy game continued. Only minutes later, W Richards made an excellent goal-line clearance to preserve the lead, so too did F Brown, who comfortably saved a number of free kicks in dangerous positions. The game finished 3-0 to Shiplake; a good win in a messy game of football.
