Steel passes pressure test
GOOD teams can run up big scores, but how they respond when things aren’t going their way is what distinguishes the great ones.
That showed through for the Southern Steel as a last second goal to Jhaniele FowlerReid helped it claim a 6867 win over the Northern Mystics at the Edgar Centre last night, securing a home grand final.
It had been tested in only a handful of times in its 12 consecutive wins. But it certainly had to work for this one.
After appearing to be cruising early the Steel quickly found itself in a fight. Every time it opened a gap in the score, the Mystics would strike back.
Yet it found a way to ensure the momentum never fully swung and always hit back itself.
The last of those runs came in the final minute and ahalf. The Mystics scored twice to tie the score at 6767.
But with just 15 seconds to go, the Steel quickly got the ball to the imposing target of FowlerReid in the circle.
The goal shoot did not panic. She calmly passed back out and muscled her way closer to the goal, before receiving the ball back and putting in the winner.
Steel coach Reinga Bloxham had plenty of praise for the Mystics.
‘‘I think the Mystics did a fantastic job of upsetting our attack end.
‘‘We lost connections and flow and, you know, we had a good start and sort of lost it a bit and we had to really fight to sort of get it back.’’
She was happy with the way the team had responded under pressure, although she felt there was still plenty to work on.
‘‘I was happy with the way we got it done.
‘‘At times it wasn’t pretty, but when we had the ball we just knew we had to control it and get it into the circle and then score off it.
‘‘So [we showed] a bit of composure at the end. It was good.’’
The Steel was up 2016 at the end of the first quarter, but that was a margin that flattered the Mystics.
The Steel had conceded five goals in a row in the last two minutes, the first of several runs in the game.
Earlier, the Steel had been completely dominant, before errors crept in and the Mystics became more clinical.
The Steel reopened a sixgoal lead early in the second quarter, before the Mystics again pegged it back to three.
The same thing happened again minutes later and this time the Mystics took the lead 3029.
Their defence played with intensity and was challenging to break down and the Silver Ferns shooting duo of Maria Tutaia and Bailey Mes proved a handful from both close and long range.
The threat of those two helped the Mystics take the lead early in the third, before opening up a 4844 lead four minutes before the final break.
But, as had been the case all game, the Steel stemmed the flow and reclaim its lead 5049.
It reopened a three point gap early in the fourth quarter, but again the Mystics took back a two goal lead.
That toandfro nature continued right until the end, as the Steel found a way to get the job done.