Heartstopper breaks Fever hearts as Vixens win nail biter
THE Melbourne Vixens have pinched a one goal win over the West Coast Fever at the absolute death yesterday in Melbourne.
In a game that was as tight as they come all afternoon, it ultimately came down to the final two seconds.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, the opening of the game was about as tight as you could get.
It took 11 goals and a clever intercept before either side could score multiple goals in a row, and thanks to Kate Eddy that was the Vixens.
It was just the little things, mainly defensively, that were working in the Vixens’ favour as all of a sudden they found themselves five goals ahead.
The Fever kicked into gear again in the Power Five though and with a minute left in the term the scores were even.
Thanks again to some strong defensive pressure from the Vixens, they were the ones to take a two goal lead into the first change.
It was again tight for the front half of the second term, with the two sides trading blows for much of the opening seven minutes.
It took a Kate Moloney deflection and Vixens subsequent goal and conversion for the pattern to break and the lead to properly increase.
The Fever were not going to just lie down though, and thanks to some Sasha Glasgow Super Shot excellence, they levelled things up inside the Power Five.
Just as things were looking like being level at the main break, Mwai Kumwenda landed the Vixens’ first Super Shot for the entire half to make sure her side held a two goal lead the main break.
On the flipside, Glasgow had landed five Super Shots by herself in the opening half.
The Fever did not take long to level proceedings and then take the lead in the third term, doing so inside the first five centre passes.
The Vixens were quick to respond, levelling back up again with the next two goals.
It was nail-biting right throughout the third term. Both teams traded blows and it was really a game of inches.
Even in the Power Five the margin was never more than about three goals, but thanks to another Kumwenda last second Super Shot, the lead sat at one in the Fever’s favour heading into the final break.
As the final quarter commenced and things stayed tight, it was getting harder to predict who would win and what ultimately split the teams apart. Bodies were flying everywhere as everyone was putting it all on the line for their team.
Ultimately it took the tiniest of tips in the defence end for the Vixens to score multiple goals in a row, break the pattern and take the lead.
However the Fever were quick to make sure the Vixens could not build a strong lead and levelled up just as the Power Five commenced.
The Vixens got out to as much as three goals in the Power Five, two rare Jhaniele Fowler Super Shots ensured that things really were going to go down to the wire.
With 30 seconds to go, Glasgow shot another Super Shot to put the Fever ahead.
That was far from the end of the drama. With only a handful of seconds left on the clock, Kiera Austin calmly went back and slotted a Super Shot of her own to pinch the win and the Vixens faithful erupted.
In her milestone match, Moloney (27 feeds 14 assists) led from the front for the Vixens, while Kumwenda only missed one shot for the whole game.
Meanwhile for the Fever, Glasgow slotted a whopping eight super shots, while Alice Teague-Neeld (42 feeds 29 assists) had a big game in mid court.
MELBOURNE VIXENS 18 | 19 | 16 | 21 (74)
WEST COAST FEVER 16 | 19 | 19 | 19 (73)
STARTING SEVENS
Melbourne Vixens
GS: Mwai Kumwenda
GA: Kiera Austin
WA: Liz Watson
C: Kate Moloney
WD: Kate Eddy
GD: Jo Weston
GK: Olivia Lewis
West Coast Fever
GS: Jhaniele Fowler
GA: Sasha Glasgow
WA: Alice Teague-Neeld
C: Verity Simmons
WD: Jess Anstiss
GD: Sunday Aryang
GK: Courtney Bruce
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