Stars eager to learn following first loss

Severn Stars Head Coach, Jo Trip, says the team are keen to learn and move on from their first loss of the season as they prepare to face London Pulse at the weekend.

Stars faced Manchester Thunder in a top of the table clash last Friday (March 8) with both teams having taken wins from their first three matches. However it was Thunder that ultimately prevailed, taking the victory 50-65.

Now Stars are looking to bounce back as they face Pulse at London’s Copper Box Arena, with first centre pass at 7pm on Saturday (March 16). Both sides sit on nine points in the Super League table, with Stars ahead in third on goal difference.

“The team are eager to learn from and move on from this loss,” said Trip. “We were not proud of the product we put out on court or our lack of commitment to our structures. which we have been very good at thus far. There were passages of brilliance against Thunder, so it is our job to find consistency in doing this for longer and increase our work rate to maintain this across the game.”

Trip said she was expecting another challenging game against Pulse. “They have a very rangy defensive unit who are working well to turn ball so we must be a double threat to post, be clinical in our ball movement, maintain possession and starve their defence of ball,” she said. “Pulse’s attacking unit are letting the ball go, so we must stifle their options and put them into tough positions where we can challenge the ball cleanly.”

Stars named an unchanged starting seven against Thunder with the match held in front of an enthusiastic sellout crowd at the University of Worcester Arena. Thunder led almost from the outset, but the match remained tight after the first quarter with only three goals separating the teams, 13-16. However, Thunder continued to extend that advantage steadily, thanks in part to a number of interceptions in the Stars shooting circle from the Thunder defence, and they led the way at the half-time interval, 25-33.  In the third quarter Stars defender Jas Brown picked up a missed goal under the post by the Thunder shooters and made another key interception in the shooting circle, both of which were duly converted into goals at the other end. In the final minutes Stars clawed back some of the Thunder lead, ending the match 50-65.

Trip said: “Our game against Thunder was a challenge and I was pleased with the learnings we came away with. We were not patient enough on ball and did not have the attacking options we needed. Our defensive effort was hesitant, and we backed off and did not challenge enough ball. These are areas that are in our hands and that we have been working on this week.”

IMG: Ben Lumley