New shooter provides pulse

Cathrine Tuivaiti looks right at home in the Central Pulse’s shooting circle.

The former Silver Ferns goal shooter put on an impressive display for her new team, converting 33 of 36 shot attempts to lead the side to a 75-30 win over a Taranaki Invitational team at New Plymouth’s TSB Stadium yesterday.

The match was being used as a building block ahead of next weekend’s Premiership preseason tournament in Otaki, and the Pulse demonstrated why coach Yvette Mccausland-durie has such high hopes for them this season.

It took them a couple of minutes to find their footing, but after some early turnovers from both sides

the Pulse put the foot down in the opening quarter.

With the mid-court players feeding Tuivaiti in the circle, the former Silver Fern was having her way with young Taranaki defender Abbie Bailey-nowell.

Taranaki goal-keep Jess Tuki was providing a spark for the home side with four first-quarter interceptions, but the extra possessions proved to be insignificant as the Pulse took a 19-5 lead into the second quarter, with shooting woes hurting the hosts.

During last year’s Taranaki club season, shooter Amber Ormond would have barely missed 10 shots throughout the competition.

But she had missed five through the first half on Sunday, with Pulse defensive duo Katrina Grant and Phoenix Karaka making life hard in the circle.

The Pulse seemed to be everywhere on defence and picked off a number of Taranaki attacks which were converted into goals at the other end on most occasions, building toward to strong 38-14 lead at halftime.

The result was never in question as the second half began, but the Pulse remained aggressive and eerily consistent as they again scored 19 goals in the third quarter and another 18 in the fourth to run away with a 45-goal win.