The Netball second team completed a fantastic season with a league win. Although the team were disappointed to lose 41-34 to York at Roses, nothing can take the Northern Conference League 5A win away from them; the league was won by just three points over bitter rivals UCLAN, picking up 24 points from their ten games to UCLAN’s 21.
The season saw a 75% win percentage across both league and cup, one of the highest of any sports teams at Lancaster. The league decider was the penultimate game of the season away at UCLAn, which was Captain Grace Biggins’ game of the season. The league looked to have slipped way from the team, as at one point they trailed by 15 points.
However, they fought back bravely, to triumph by a solitary point with the final score at 34-33. Captain Biggins said of the match: “It was an electric moment for us all”. This result came exactly seven days after the demolition job in the corresponding home fixture as Lancaster cruised to victory 41-24.
The season was full of close encounters for the netball second team. The first game that SCAN had the pleasure of covering during the season was a 30-29 win over Liverpool John Moore’s in the first round of the cup, which came down to the final play of the match. The two other closest fixtures of the season came in away fixtures; 32-30 win at Chester and a 36-33 win at Glyndwr University.
The cup run didn’t last as long as the club would have hoped for however, as the team crashed out of the competition at the hands of Manchester Metropolitan University, who ply their trade two divisions above Lancaster so it was always going to be a tough task. The 32-27 score-line suggests just how far the team has progressed this year, and how easily the team may cope in a higher division next season.
It was decided that no player of the season would be determined for the purpose of this article; instead the credit goes to the spirit and camaraderie shown throughout the year. This is highlighted in the fact that the team won their league, but also, in that they have been nominated for club of the year in the upcoming LUSU sports awards.
Biggins told SCAN: “I can only thank the girls for how great they have been this season, their immense commitment to training and fitness has been superb. This has been by far my best year for netball and I could not have wished for a better team or club”. She added: “We couldn’t have done so well without the club or won the league without it. Our team bonding and spirit has been magnificent. We went into everything as a team. I, as I am sure the rest of the team have, loved every minute.”
