THE RAYS OF HOPE
COAST PROVE A POINT
THE Gold Coast Stingrays have marked their arrival as one of the teams to beat in Gridiron Queensland’s women’s competition, despite falling to the unbeaten Bayside Ravens on Saturday.
That’s the opinion of coach Christine Schultz, whose troops battled bravely in a 22-12 loss after the Ravens piled on three quick firsthalf touchdowns.
Entering the Round 3 clash at Nerang on the back of a 34-6 loss to Griffith Thunder, the hosts showed they were ready to play when they opened the scoring with a length-of-the-field touchdown from a kick return.
However, the Ravens quickly found the form that carried them to 42-0 and 72-0 victories over Griffith and Moreton Bay, respectively, reaching the end zone three times in quick succession to take a 22-6 halftime lead.
Schultz said having kept the reigning premiers scoreless in the second half, hopes were high the Stingrays could register their second win of the season against Moreton Bay at Mitchelton on Saturday.
“That score reflects how much improvement the girls have made. Even though it was a loss for the team, to do what they did, I’m very proud of them as a team and as individuals,” Schultz said.
“(There was) lots of improvement. We focused a lot on trying to get our game plan up, especially our defence.
“We just felt we couldn’t execute the week before (against Griffith) but we definitely proved that when we focus on a certain area, it improves. We’re building on it all the time.
“This week we’re going to concentrate a lot on the offensive side and get the ball moving. I’m quite impressed at how it’s all started to come together.”
In the men’s competition, the Stingrays slipped to a 33-25 loss to Griffith to take their record to one win and two losses.
However, there were no such problems for the colts and juniors, who thumped Griffith 32-0 and the Logan Bengals 50-8, respectively, to keep their perfect records intact.
All four Gold Coast teams will play at Frank Lind Oval on Brisbane’s northside this Saturday.
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