THE Boroondara Express are through to another Victorian Netball League decider after defeating the Hawks 51 goals to 47.

Although the Hawks put in a solid fight back at the end of the game, a strong first half from the Express meant that their efforts proved futile.

The Express’ intent was on show early, as Ruby Pekin Schlicht intercepted the very first centre pass and Isabelle Hodgson converted to make sure Pekin Schlicht’s hard work did not go to waste, and from there the Express built a handy early lead. However it was not a big so the Express could hardly rest on their laurels.

That lead did eventually grow to be about four goals halfway through the quarter as Ruby Barkmeyer really started to get lively alongside Hodgson, but the likes of Keighley Starrett were still picking up crucial intercepts, so things were not all going the Express’ way.

That lead grew even further in the back end of the quarter thanks to some strong defensive work from Sarah Szczykulski and Pekin Schlicht, and as such the lead was six in favour of Boroondara.

A lively start to the second term for the Express set them up to extend their lead even further, but Jessica Tetley and Kaylia Stanton helped reign things in a bit.

However the Express got on a role again, and by the time half time came around the margin had grown out to 10 goals.

The Hawks made a bit of a dent into the deficit in the third term, reducing the overall margin by three goals off the back of a late run, but the final quarter was a truly different story.

With only a couple of minutes to go in the final quarter the margin was eight goals and things were looking pretty good for the Express.

But the Hawks were not going to lie down without a fight, and led by Stanton cut the margin in  half in the space of two minutes, but ultimately ran out of time to complete the job, falling agonisingly short.

The win sees the Express move on to again fight the City West Falcons for the flag, while the Hawks’ season comes to an end.