On Saturday 10th November, on a brisk but bright morning, the Framlingham College netball squads gathered together to make the journey to Ipswich High sports centre. All three teams had successfully qualified through the County area tournaments, each winning their relevant age group.
The U14’s Story
The u14’s took a while to get in gear and failed to capitalise on a half time lead in their first match, losing to the eventual winners Copplestone.
This then put the pressure on as they had to win every game.
They played far better in their second game, particular credit must go to the defence, edging a one goal victory over Culford.
With every game they became more fluid as a team and they dominated their final match against Mildenhall, winning through to the semis.
Unfortunately, having finished second in the group they had to play the winners of the other pool. They fought hard but didn’t quite have the tactical knowledge at this stage of the season to match a well drilled Ipswich side. Congratulations to the U14’s who were a supportive, hardworking and receptive group of players on the day.
Squad- R.Morgan, M.Fennell, H.Sunnucks, M.Blunden, H. Dring-Richardson, C.Hayward, T.Walker, L.Gee, E.Williamson, M.Salter, P.Romer-Lee.
The U19’s Story
With a newly formed 1st team who are battling some injury problems, the girls knew it was going to be a challenging day. A tough first game against Ipswich High, who had incredible height in their circle, saw the girls with a narrow loss. Full credit to our defence for listening to feedback at half time about how to play against this style, and then going on to win the second half. Moving forward with a positive approach and knowing that we had to win the next two games to qualify for the semi-finals. Finborough were next, and our girls played some exceptional netball. The ball travelled through the court with ease, ably finished off through the net by Finbow, Ball and then making her 1st team debut Morgan. Also introduced to the court at half time was Clark. A valiant 10-2 win.
Final game in the group stages was a must win, against Culford. The girls knew this would be a close encounter, and really either team could take the win. A 2-2 half time team talk, unfortunately wasn’t enough and the girls narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot 6-4.
Congratulations to Millie Crewe who also made her 1st team debut and was outstanding in defence.
Squad- G.Walker, C.Mears, J.Slater, A.Slater, P.Haste, M.Crewe, M.Finbow, I.Ball, P.Morgan, H. Clark.
The U16’s Story
An incredibly strong team with full strength, and a great attitude meant that the expectations for this group of players was very high, and they certainly did not disappoint! A brilliant start against a very strong RHS side, saw us take a narrow one goal lead at half time. Going in to the second half and having shaken off any nerves, the girls began to find their rhythm and pulled away to win 10-6. In the second game of the day against County Upper School, nothing could separate us at half time and then indeed full time. So a big final game was needed. With only one goal separating us at half time, we needed more clever movement in attack and not to force the ball. A brilliant second half saw us 12-7 winners, only allowing Woodbridge to score 2 goals in the second half.
Onto the semi-finals. The girls knew that a win here would secure our place in the Regional Finals. Once again only a 6-5 lead at half time, our half time team talk consisted of revisiting our tactical set plays. With astounding impact, the girls took the game 17-9, and thoroughly deserved their spot in the finals. Wanting to finish the day off as County Champions we had to re face our competitors from RHS, who we knew we could beat. And win we did 7-5! A brilliant game with a group of such talented and hardworking girls. The stage has been set, and the hard work now begins as we prepare for the Regional Finals on January 26th.
Squad- R.Garcia Hernandez, G.Gardens, D.Ford, A.Moore, G.Nicholls, R.Yardy, E.Spaul, F.Faulkner, M.Green, E.Cottar, A.Watt, O.Buchanan.
