Month: September 2020

Words By Cameron Tenardi. Image by Ellie Meyer.

NISSAN Arena hosted round 5 of the HART Sapphire Series as the USC Thunder faced off against the Bond University Bull sharks. Round 5 also represented R U OK round, reminding us to check in on those around us and to learn what to say after you ask R U OK. Thunder entered this match hoping for a win after a disappointing loss to the Ipswich Jets last time out. Chloe Bingham started the game at GS alongside Annie Lawrie at GA. Ali Wilshier started at WA, Chloe Litherland at C, Ash Uni at WD, Lily-May Catling at GD, and Sarahpheinna Woulf at GK.

Bull Sharks had the centre pass and scored the first goal after both sides forced two turnovers; a sign of the pace that was to come. Chloe Bingham scored moments later to give USC their first goal before a Catling intercept gave Thunder their second through Lawrie. Bingham scored Thunders third and fourth on the back of a beautiful pass by Wilshier, and then an intercept by Woulf. Catling started the game on a mission, being involved in at least four turnovers after only seven minutes. A four-minute goalless period is interrupted by a Thunder goal. The quarter was very low scoring with Thunder claiming the first bonus points on offer, 11 goals to 7. Bull Sharks had the centre pass for the second quarter and scored first again. Catling picked up yet another turnover and put Thunder back on the front foot. Thunder called a timeout with under 8 minutes to go. Lawrie came on at GS and scored two goals in a minute and a half before Bull Sharks called their time out. Catling was the turnover queen so far this game and was proving massive for the Thunder as they claimed the second quarter bonus points and held an eight-goal lead at the major break.

Thunder had the centre pass in the third quarter and scored first through Lawrie before Hunt scored the second. Unie forced an important turnover to allow Thunder to score twice more as the lead stretched out to 11. Catling and Woulf had been involved in more turnovers than I could count by this point as the Bull Sharks call a timeout. Thunder held a strong third quarter lead which evaporated as the Bull Sharks went on an 8 goals to 1 run. Thunder held strong as the quarter ended 11-11, with both teams sharing the bonus points. Lawrie scored first in the final quarter as the Bull Sharks hit back. A Goal for goal affair throughout most of the fourth spurred Thunder into a timeout with six minutes to go. The Bull sharks were highly energised throughout the final five minutes and got within five goals before Thunder scored last. Bull Sharks claimed the final bonus points of the game; however Thunder claimed a six goal victory.

Some strong defence by both sides saw plenty of errors in this game, but Thunder were professional enough to steady when it mattered and take the win. Thunder will be happy with the 10 points for the victory and five bonus points for quarter results, however they will be rueing missed opportunities to claim even more. Lily-May Catling was exceptional and a worthy nomination for player of the match. USC Thunder take the week off next weekend before returning on Sunday 27^th September against the Ipswich Jets.

Q1: Thunder 11 – Bull Sharks 7

Q2: Thunder 23 (12) – Bull Sharks 15 (8)

Q3: Thunder 34 (11) – Bull Sharks 26 (11)

Q4: Thunder 44 (10) – Bull Sharks 38 (12)

Thunder starting seven: GS – Chloe Bingham, GA – Annie Lawrie, WA – Ali Wilshier, C – Chloe Litherland, WD – Ashlee Unie, GD – Lily-May Catling, GK – Sarahpheinna Woulf.

Substitutes: Binnian Hunt, Josie Hungerford, Adrienne Keefe

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Sapphire Series or its clubs

Words By Cameron Tenardi. Image by Ellie Meyer.

USC Thunder travelled to NISSAN Arena to face the undefeated Ipswich Jets in round 4 of the HART Sapphire Series on Sunday. Thunder entered the matchup with confidence after claiming a quarter and performing admirably against the top of the table Cougars last time out. Binnian Hunt returned to the side at GA after missing the previous round and was joined in the goal circle by Annie Lawrie (GS). Josie Hungerford started the game at WA, Chloe Litherland at C and captain Ash Unie at WD. Lily-May Catling (GD) and Sarahpheinna Woulf (GK) continued their partnership at the back.

Jets had the centre pass and were first to score before Lawrie opened for Thunder. A slow start from Thunder saw the Jets skip away to an early 4-1 lead after a couple of missed shots from Lawrie and Hunt, however the girls made almost immediate amends as they scored three in a row and tied the game up only minutes later. Another Hunt goal made it four in a row as Thunder moved ahead. Both teams went goal for goal for the remainder of the quarter. A physical first stanza saw both teams score 12 goals to share the bonus points. Thunder scored the first goal of the second quarter after breaking the Jets centre pass and backed it up with a second. A massive Woulf intercept allowed Thunder to score a third and then a fourth consecutive goal. Another Jets error handed Thunder yet another turnover as they scored their first straight goal to open the quarter before the Jets called a timeout with 11 minutes remaining in the half. An exceptional defensive performance by all the girls was killing the Jets as Lawrie scored again to extend to six. The Jets responded, dragging the margin back to one before Thunder called a timeout on the eve of half time. With four minutes remaining until the break, Thunder couldn’t slow the Jets momentum who went on to claim the second quarter bonus points.

Hunt moved to GS for the start of the third quarter and scored the Thunders first. Jets however continued their momentum from the end of the second quarter and skipped away after a few minutes. Thunder called an early timeout, but it wasn’t successful in slowing the Jets who went on to claim the quarter by 9 and were rarely troubled by Thunder. Lawrie scored Thunder’s first in the final quarter and was now joined in the goal circle by Chloe Bingham who scored the second. Thunder started to move the ball around a lot more this quarter and took an early two goal lead. Adrienne Keefe had entered the game at GK by this point and was defending quite well. Litherland was involved in everything and fed the ball well to Bingham who was making her mark on this quarter. Jets were still strong and took a one goal lead before they called a timeout with five minutes to go. After the break the Jets flexed their muscles through the closing stages and claimed the final bonus points on offer.

Thunder will be buoyed by their first half performance but will have gone home disappointed in their second half. There’s plenty to take away from this game with some impressive ball movement against a top of the table side highlighting their stronger periods. Another impressive first quarter also allowed them to claim a bonus point. If Thunder can maintain their first quarter momentum in future games, then there’s some real potential to move up the ladder. Thunder will next face the Bond University Bull sharks at NISSAN Arena on Sunday at 7pm.

Q1: Jets 12 – Thunder 12

Q2: Jets 28 (16) – Thunder 25 (13)

Q3: Jets 48 (20) – Thunder 36 (11)

Q4: Jets 67 (19) – Thunder 46 (10)

Thunder starting seven: GS – Annie Lawrie, GA – Binnian Hunt, WA – Josie Hungerford, C – Chloe Litherland, WD – Ashlee Unie, GD – Lily-May Catling, GK – Sarahpheinna Woulf.

Substitutes: Chloe Bingham, Ali Wilshire, Adrienne Keefe.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Sapphire Series or its clubs

Words by Lillie Hull. Image by Ellie Meyer.

USC Thunder’s Ruby team battled against the North Brisbane Cougars at USC’s sport stadium in round 3 of the 2020 HART Ruby Series. In Thunder Ruby’s third round they were down one player, having lost Nicole Guenther after she tore her right ACL during training. The team’s line up for the game saw Adrienne Keefe in GK, alongside Lily McClure as GD and Amy Metcalf in WD. Sarah Harris was in centre position, with Josie Bringham (WA) and Abbie Mischke (GA) helping with attacks, followed by Matilda Lawrie in GS.

The game opened with Cougars taking centre pass and scoring the first goal. Thunder were off to a slow start, but they didn’t back down, with Keefe intercepting the Cougars attacks. They eventually pushed through and got the ball down to Mischke who made the first shot of the night for Thunder with 9 minutes left in the quarter. There was a constant back and forth throughout the quarter, until after the first time out where Mischke got three shots in a row taking back the momentum at the end of the quarter. Thunder started the second quarter off with another goal shortly followed by both Mischke (GS) and Bingham (GA) getting more goals. The game started picking up as Thunder got more competitive and started moving faster than they did in the first quarter. After another time out call, Thunder took back control and overtook the Cougars with the help of Keefe intercepting. The first half ended with Thunder in the lead with 22 to 20.

The second half kicked off with the Cougars scoring, but Thunder fought back even harder than before. Keefe and Bonser (WD) kept up with the defence, intercepting ball after ball, refusing to give up. Centre Metcalf kept the ball moving and sending it back to the attackers with the help of Harris. Both teams refused to let the other get to the ball, with a constant back-and-forth. Harris kept breaking through the defenders to get her team the ball and move the game forward. Thunder took the lead at the end of the third quarter. Going into the final quarter, the heat did not ease up, with both teams shooting goal-to-goal. Keefe, Harris and Bonser kept up with the interceptions and getting the ball back down to their attackers and shooters. McClure was also doing a great job defending and blocking the Cougars and getting the ball back to Thunder for Lawrie to score a few shots. Harris and Metcalf kept breaking free from their defenders and got the ball down the court. With 7 minutes left in the quarter and time out was called and Bingham and Mischke came back in with Lawrie stepping out. In the final minutes of the game Bingham slipped and was injured, with the umpire not calling time which cost the Thunder the game.

Thunder fought their hardest and gave the Cougars a tough match and refused to back down till the very end. It was a close call with the game constantly moving back and forth. Thunder will be playing the next round against the Ipswich Jets on Sunday the 6^th of September at NISSAN Arena.

Q1: Thunder 6 – Cougars 10

Q2: Thunder 22 (16) – Cougars 20 (10)

Q3: Thunder 32 (10) – Cougars 30 (10)

Q4: Thunder 44 (12) – Cougars 46 (16)

Thunder starting seven: GK- Adrienne Keefe, GD- Lily McClure, WD- Amy Metcalf, C– Sarah Harris, WA- Josie Bringham, GA- Abbie Mischke, GS- Matilda Lawrie.

Substitutes: Brianna Jays, Ebony Martyn & Mary Ellen Bonser.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Sapphire Series or its clubs

Words By Cameron Tenardi. Image by Ellie Meyer.

Round 3 of the HART Sapphire Series saw USC Thunder host their first home game of the season at USC Stadium as they took on the top of the table Brisbane North Cougars. Thunder had won in round 2 against the Tigers and were hoping to continue that form against the defending grand finalists. Chloe Bingham was again promoted to the starting side at GS alongside Annie Lawrie (GA). Ali Wilshire started at WA with Chloe Litherland at C, whilst Ash Uni (WD), Lily-May Catling (GD) and Sarahphienna Woulf (GK) made up the back three.

Cougars had the centre pass to open the game and started strong, scoring the first three goals. A Litherland intercept changed the momentum early, allowing Chloe Bingham to score Thunder’s first before Lawrie backed it up with a second. Woulf and Catling had already forced multiple turnovers and Thunder took advantage and pulled the early margin back. Some epic defence from the girls kept the Cougars at bay. Chloe Bingham scored right as the buzzer sounded to win the quarter 11-10 and take the first available bonus points. Cougars scored the first two goals of the second quarter as well. Thunder upped their work rate to counteract the pace of the Cougars offence. Wilshire, Litherland, Unie and Hungerford responded to the Cougars increased pressure with impressive defensive efforts and a number of quality passes. A Thunder timeout with under 8 minutes left in the half opened up an opportunity for Josie Bingham to enter the game. Thunder kept their energy high for the remainder of the half, however Cougars were just too strong. Thunder entered the major break with a 10-goal deficit.

Thunder scored first in the second half through a Josie Bingham goal. Thunder were going goal for goal against the Cougars early on with Josie Bingham and Annie Lawrie converting most opportunities whilst Chloe Bingham got involved too. A strong period from the Cougars saw Thunder concede a couple of quick goals. Some positional changes allowed Thunder to calm, however Cougars took the third quarter by five. Thunder came out firing and claimed the first goal of the final stanza. Catling and Uni proved crucial in defence as they forced multiple turnovers that resulted in goals. With under 8 minutes to go, Thunder were challenging for bonus points with seven goals apiece before Lawrie scored another to go one ahead. Lawrie’s impressive long shots proved to be important as the Cougars were strong in defence. With two minutes remaining, Thunder were sitting 11-11 before a timeout was called moments later. Thunder were gallant in the closing stages but fell only one goal shy of the bonus points.

The final score was not representative of how close the game was. Thunder were impressive through most of the match and were only let down by a lopsided second quarter. The Cougars are one of the top sides in the competition and the girls should be proud of themselves for their grit and determination. The first quarter lead also meant the side picked up an important two bonus points. Thunder are now preparing for their round 4 game against the Ipswich Jets at NISSAN Arena on Sunday September 6 at 7pm.

Q1: Thunder 11 – Cougars 10

Q2: Thunder 19 (8) – Cougars 29 (19)

Q3: Thunder 32 (13) – Cougars 47 (18)

Q4: Thunder 45 (13) – Cougars 61 (14)

Thunder starting seven: GS – Chloe Bingham, GA – Annabelle Lawrie, WA – Ali Wilshire, C – Chloe Litherland, WD – Ashlee Unie, GD – Lily-May Catling, GK – Sarahphienna Woulf.

Substitutes: Josephine Bingham, Josephine Hungerford, Adrienne Keefe.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Sapphire Series or its clubs