Comfortable Varsity win for Carnegie netball

by student sports reporter Joseph Fitzpatrick

The Leeds Met Carnegie netball 1st team displayed just why they were BUCS national champions last year as they annihilated their University of Leeds opposition 76-39.
Carnegie lined up with a starting seven that included five players who played in the BUCS Championship final victory over Loughborough earlier on in the year, with the additions of fresher's Sam Thomas and England U19 shooter Rachel Shaw.

Leeds Met were able to deliver the performance to match their pedigree winning the first quarter 23-4. The Met defence turned the ball over numerous times and with the mid court able to get the ball to the shooters at will, the score line should have been even more embarrassing for the home team.  However the Leeds Met shooters were not as clinical as they could have been.

Leeds Uni attempted to stifle the rout with a defensive switch in the 2nd quarter but it horrendously back fired as 6'3 Carnegie scholar Joanne Walker ended up being marked by a defender who was diminutive at best. Carnegie exploited this mismatch to the maximum firing long ball after long ball towards Walker who responded by shooting a perfect quarter. The defence and mid court continued to create turnovers, lead by several strong interceptions from Goalkeeper Danielle Bloomfield, and subsequently the Met shooters were kept busy with the halftime score 44-13 to Carnegie.

Unsurprisingly in the 3d quarter Leeds University corrected their defensive mismatch, but it was simply a case of damage limitation and Carnegie once again added another 19 goals. With the result a foregone conclusion the 4th quarter saw Carnegie ease up and allow Leeds University a bit of attacking success and they managed to get the full time score to a flatteringly 76-39 in Carnegie's favour.

Speaking after the game Leeds Met Goal Shooter Joanne Walker said: "Today's game was a chance for us to put into practice our hard work throughout preseason.  It was a great performance all round and as reigning champions we will be very confident going into this BUCS season."