Silver
Ferns down England late at Commonwealth Games
Sports code: Netball
Source: 3 news
Date: august 2nd
Coach Waimarama Taumaunu lauded the composure of her players after the Silver Ferns won a dramatic Commonwealth Games semi-final against England with a last-second goal.
Sports code: Netball
Source: 3 news
Date: august 2nd
Coach Waimarama Taumaunu lauded the composure of her players after the Silver Ferns won a dramatic Commonwealth Games semi-final against England with a last-second goal.
New Zealand had to come from behind in
the final quarter in Glasgow before a Maria Tutaia shot from under the post
clinched a 35-34 victory.
The result kept alive the Silver Ferns'
hopes of a third successive gold medal.
The match at the Scottish Exhibition
and Conference Centre was a see-sawing thriller and Taumaunu identified the
last two minutes as key.
She praised the way that Tutaia's
shooting partner, Jodi Brown, wound down the clock before the decisive goal.
"Jodi managed to draw out the
attack play right to the last second so England had no opportunity to have a
centre pass and go again," she said.
"There was a lot of composure and
clear-headedness in those last two minutes."
The match was a low-scoring one and
Taumaunu acknowledged the defensive work of England pairing of Geva Mentor and
Eboni Beckford-Chambers.
"They're an outstanding defensive
unit and we always knew it was going to be tough," she said.
"And I think we made it tough for
their shooters."
New Zealand will meet either world
champions Australia or Jamaica in the title decider on Sunday.
England had given Australia a fright in
the pool phase before also losing by a solitary goal.
Against New Zealand, they battled
against a heavy penalty count, but were roared on by the majority of supporters
in the crowd.
The Silver Ferns started without their
top shooting combination of Tutaia and Cathrine Latu, who had both missed their
previous two matches with injury.
Tutaia, who had been nursing a foot
problem, came on for Ellen Halpenny in the second quarter, but Latu sat out the
match with a calf problem.
No more than one goal separated the
teams at the end of each of the first three quarters with skipper Casey Kopua
leading the defensive effort for the Silver Ferns.
The contest was locked at 29-29 heading
into the final period and, like in the third quarter, England jumped out to an
early.
But the Silver Ferns levelled to 34-34
with more than three minutes to go, setting up a heart-stopping finish.
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