Match Preview: Stars V Storm
Severn Stars back with Home Advantage after Three Weeks on Road
Severn Stars Head Coach, Jo Trip, says she is expecting a “big battle” against Surrey Storm as her team looks forward to performing again in front of a home crowd after three rounds on the road.
Stars will finally be returning to the University of Worcester Arena, taking on seventh-placed Surrey Storm on Sunday (April 7), with the first centre pass at 4pm. They will be keen to keep a positive run of form going that has kept them in the top three of the table all season. Their time on the road has proved fruitful, with two wins out of three, including their victory last weekend at Saracens Mavericks on Saturday (March 30).
“We are very excited to be back home at the University of Worcester Arena and cannot wait to see all our fans, family and friends back home, cheering us on,” said Trip.
“The game against Surrey Storm is going to be another big battle for us. They have a solid attacking end with an accurate target shooter at the back and a defensive unit that are rangy and are winning ball. We need to be able to disconnect their attacking unit and keep Storm’s defence away from ball by making sure our placement is away from hands.”
A closely fought encounter last weekend saw Stars take the win from Mavericks by just to goals, 56-58, which sees them sitting third in the Netball Super League table. For Trip, this game had extra significance, following defeat to Cardiff Dragons the week before by just two goals after Stars had staged a final quarter comeback.
“We were prepared for a tough game from our previous loss against Celtic Dragons, and it was important for us to get ourselves back up on the board,” she said. “The team is taking heart after each loss and coming out and performing.”
The first quarter of the match was tight, with Stars ahead but just two goals in it, 15-17. Though Stars stretched their lead to four goals in the early stages of the second quarter, they could not shake off Mavericks who got the turnovers and managed to peg Stars back to level on 20-20.
It was goal for goal, then it was Mavericks that pulled ahead, but they then send a ball out of court, which was duly converted by Stars shooter Sigi Burger, and a turnover for Stars in the final stages of the first half saw then go in with a slender lead, 29-30. A strong third quarter performance from Stars saw them finally extend their lead, 41-46. Although at one stage in the final quarter, Stars had a seven-goal lead, 43-50, in a dramatic last few minutes Mavericks fought back to get within two of the Stars lead but it was not enough, with a final score of 56-58.
Trip said: “We knew Mavericks would come out strong and they did exactly that. We weathered a bit of a storm from them in the first half but a really strong third quarter with only 3 errors allowed us to push out on the scoreboard. We continued to push but Mavericks showed their class by coming back at us in the final few minutes of the game.
“I feel we did a good job against them. I was really pleased with the freedom we played with – the feeding of the shooters, our work rate and our total team defensive pressure. There are still some areas that we need to continue working on – having multiple options on attack, our court balance and our defensive pressure to create winnable ball.”
IMG: Ben Lumley