Carmel recovers from fright to hammer Sacred Heart

Press, 21 April 1986, Page 26

Carmel recovers from fright to hammer Sacred Heart

By DAVID LEGGAT St Nicholas probably did its Christchurch rival, Sacred Heart, no favours when it gave the outstanding North Shore team, Carmel Mainzeal, a fright in their Swiss Maid national netball league match at the Hagley courts on Saturday.

Cannel got home by just four goals, but yesterday morning bounced back to dish out a netball lesson to Sacred Heart, turning on a brilliant performance to retain its 100 per cent record in the league, with an 82-46 victory. The Carmel coach, Mrs Marion Smith, was clearly delighted with her team’s display yesterday, labelling it the best over-all effort of the league season. More importantly, the win kept Carmel on course for a place in the league final on June 2, an appointment Mrs Smith intends keeping, and going one better than last year when it was surprisingly beaten by Laser Verdettes, of Hamilton.

Cannel had Sacred Heart reeling with a thundering start, rattling on 22 goals in the first quarter, and perhaps the key to the performance was that it never loosened its grip throughout the remaining three periods.

Swift movement down the court, slick passing, and cohesive teamwork provided the Carmel goal shoot, Tracy Eyrl, and the goal attack. Ruth Aitken, with 106 shots at goal and there was little the Sacred Heart defence of Lynda de Ruyter and AnneMarie Shah could do to stem the tide.

At the other end, Carmel’s tall, strong defence of Denise Felix and Gael Robinson, forced Sacred Heart’s goal shoot, Stephanie Stokes-Washing-ton, and the goal attack, Diana Houghton, wide in the shooting circle and pressured well to capitalise on any errors. As the match wore on, Sacred Heart erred in not taking the shooting opportunities that it did get,

opting too often to try and work its way, unsuccessfully, into a better position.

The linking play of the Carmel centre, Marianne Bridgart, and the wing attack, Kay Miller, in particular was impressive and it was not until late in the second quarter that Sacred Heart managed to get a decent measure of parity. It did get six goals while Carmel scored twice towards the end of that quarter, but by halftime the gap was 39-21, and Sacred Heart was effectively out of the match. Tina Hazlett was introduced at wing attack in place of Jackie Aprata, but at the end of the third quarter Carmel’s dominance had lengthened to 30 points, 59-29. Even with that margin as a cushion, Carmel kept up its workrate and actually scored more goals in the final quarter, 23 to Sacred Heart’s 17, than it did in any of the previous three spells.

Eyrl, a player of genuine potential, scored with 53 of her 70 attempts, while her captain, Aitken, a former national representative got 29 goals from 36 shots. Houghton goaled 15 times in 30 attempts while StokesWashington, in trying, circumstances, did particularly well to notch 31 goals from 38 shots. The final margin, 36 points, is the biggest in the league this season and while Sacred Heart’s player-coach, Leigh Gibbs, was disappointed with the result she was quick to praise the work of a Carmel side made up entirely of New Zealand full or under-31 representatives.

“They made sure of every pass and it was very difficult for us to stop their momentum. We didn’t keep the pressure on for long enough, but any team that plays Carmel will have a struggle,” she said.

For both teams it was the second match of the

week-end, but Gibbs felt that could not be an excuse for Sacred Heart’s performance. “There might have been a bit of weariness, but the players should be fit enough.” The disappointment at her team’s display against St Nicholas on Saturday was more than tempered yesterday for Mrs Smith. Certain players, she felt, had not performed up to standard against St Nicholas, and as a result the team performance had suffered. Yesterday, with the entire team gelling together perfectly and players complementing each other so well it was hard to find fault.

With two games left, against Verdettes and its Auckland rival, A.S.B. Collegiate, Carmel is steaming towards a place in the final, but the strength of its reserve depth will be revealed when two key players, Eyrl and Wendy Madgwick, depart shortly on the New Zealand under 21 team’s tour of Australia.