HOPES of a finals birth were dashed last week as the Tuncurry Forster Tigers women’s over 35s team narrowly missed out on a medal placing against Shire United in the Masters Games.
After a win in their first match, followed by a narrow loss in the second, the Tigers needed a win against Manly Vale to keep their finals dreams alive. A great early goal by Nadine Chapman saw the Tigers settle early on, but sustained pressure from Manly Vale saw them battle to keep their opponents at bay.
The task was made all the more difficult when the Tigers’ Brooke Dormor had a sickening head clash with an opponent forcing her offer the field and to hospital for stitches.
Her departure could have rocked the team’s confidence, but the girls dug in, and a player of the match performance by Janelle Curtis saw the Tigers hang on for the needed win. A lay day on the Tuesday, saw the Tigers travel to the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith to cheer on the all Forster men’s coxed four crew of Phil Chalmers, Jonathon Newman, Dave Rankin and Mick Yarad, who unfortunately missed qualifying for the final in testing conditions.
Chalmers and Newman also competed in the B division quad scull, beaten out of finals contention by a very sharp international field.
On Wednesday the Tigers took on the Forest 35s from the north of Sydney, in a bid for the finals.
A very tense battle ensued with the Tigers under enormous pressure early, but the defensive unit of Donna Beaver, Sarah Newman, Sheree McCarthy and Michelle Gray scrambled well to hold the Sydney girls out until half-time.
The second half saw the Forest 35s hit a scrappy goal very early on, and from then on it was all Tigers as Sharon Brown and Nadine Chapman took control of the midfield, distributing well to Anna Sparkes and Gen Moran out wide, with good running up front by Brooke “stitches” Dormor and Jodie Arthurson.
The pressure again heated up as Michelle Gray, landed a pin-point accurate throw at the feet of Anna Sparkes who turned and blazed home with her left foot to level the score.
Both teams had their chances to steal all three points after that, but Janelle Curtis was again on song in the Tigers goal and ensured the points were split.
The final round of pool matches saw the Tigers needing to beat top of the group Shire United, as well as hoping that Manly Vale could get something against the North Queensland Wasps if they were to be in the hunt for the medals.
The Manly Vale girls did their part in holding the Wasps to a draw, but the Shire United side proved a bridge too far for the Tigers.
The Shire went ahead early with a very accurate corner being nodded home uncontested by their six foot tall striker, who towered over her marker Sarah Newman.
A second identical goal followed, then two strikes from a distance saw the game out of the Tigers’ reach before half time.
Another corner was converted by the Shire to bring up five by the break.
To their credit though, the Tigers dug in deeply and kept their highly rated opponents to only one goal in the second half.
The Shire United side went all the way through to the gold medal match, where they were beaten in a penalty shoot out by the Tasmanian Strikers.
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