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Opposition: Exeter College
Venue: Hereford Sixth Form Sports Hall (Home) 
Score: Hereford 54 – 55 Exeter

Hereford player of the match: Anna Mulderrig (GD)

 

The Hereford Sixth Form College netballers just missed out on a place in the British Colleges' National Final as they were defeated by Exeter College 54-55 in an enthralling match. Hereford fielded their strongest starting line up of May Blackman Howard GK, Anna Mulderrig GD, Emily Pedersen WD, Ella Langford C, Natasha Davies WA, Kate Morgan GA and Helen Hancock GS.

 

Winning the match was going to be difficult as Exeter is arguably the best team in the country and fields England players. The match started at a frantic pace and after a few minutes it became clear that if the girls played at their absolute best, then they might be able to take victory. The scores remained very level for most of the first quarter with Hereford attacking very well. Davies and Langford fed Hancock very effectively who certainly had the better of Exeter’s GK for the whole match. At the end of the first quarter the score was 10-9 to Exeter.

 

The girls played the first half of the second quarter really well, taking a 1 point lead. However, the first of Exeter’s big leads emerged around half way through the quarter with some superb play from Exeter’s U18 England GA. Anna Mulderrig had the extremely difficult task of marking the Exeter GA who was a foot taller than her. Towards the end of the quarter the match seemed to be going away from Hereford with Exeter leading 24-20.

 

Jenna Griffin and Sophie Wright gave an inspirational team talk during the break and the girls came back fighting. Davies was taken off for Finney who played at WD with Pedersen moving to WA. With some brilliant attacking play from Pedersen, Morgan and Hancock, Hereford levelled the score. Unfortunately, the girls' concentration then slipped and despite some heroic defending from Finney, Mulderrig and Blackman Howard, Exeter moved into what looked like an insurmountable lead with the score at 33-27.

 

With the girls' confidence falling away, Jenna Griffin pulled her team together and gave another truly inspirational team talk to get the girls fired up for the last quarter. Natalie Booth came on for Finney at WD. Initially Hereford seemed unable to reduce the lead. However, with 8 minutes remaining, the girls played some absolutely sublime netball. Their attacking play was incredible with Hancock and Morgan shooting brilliantly. Pedersen and Langford upped their games and supported the attacking play really well. In defence Booth and Blackman Howard blocked Exeter out. However, Anna Mulderrig, facing the near impossible task of defending Exeter’s goal attack was truly outstanding and turned the ball over to enable Hereford to get back into the match. Scoring 8 goals without reply, the girls looked set for victory, 2 goals ahead with 1 minute remaining. Exeter responded positively and managed to level the match in just about the last second and this proved to be the crucial turning point.  

 

Extra time was scheduled for ten minutes each way and the girls played an excellent first half, taking a two goal advantage. However, they started the second half badly, giving Exeter a 5 point lead. Mulderrig and Langford went down with cramp and Hereford were very much on the ropes. However, with just 3 minutes to go, the girls upped their game yet again. They took advantage of Exeter’s questionable tactics of slowing the game down and scored 4 goals in quick succession. However, as they turned the ball over and began another attack in pursuit of levelling the match, the final whistle was blown, leaving the final score at 54-55 to Exeter.

 

The loss was devastating and looking back, Hereford could have certainly won the match but they just gave Exeter too much of a lead, too many times. However, the girls showed phenomenal team spirit to push Exeter as close as they did and it was a superb effort. It is that team spirit and camaraderie that lies at the centre of this outstanding team’s success and it is very unlikely that any other college netball team in the whole country would have been able to pull itself back into the match so many times. Over the whole campaign the girls have demonstrated stunning athleticism, mental strength and the ability to perform under intense pressure. The girls, coaches and everyone else involved in Hereford Sixth Form College Netball should be very proud of their incredible achievement of being one of the top four colleges in the whole country.

Click the link below to see photos of the match:

http://www.review.hereford.ac.uk/photoAlbums/