Lions do Hay proud in Pride Cup
Hay Lions AFLW team took on Woorinen Youth Girls in the Pride Cup on Sunday.
Getting first use of the wind, Hay midfield got their hands on the football with Emma Johnston dominant in the ruck, and Dim Comb getting plenty of contested touches early.
Backline was under pressure at times through the first quarter, as Woorinen got the ball on the outside, ran hard and kicked into space.
However, Lani Houston and Matilda Nisbet in the last line of defence showed great pressure to deny some goal scoring opportunities.
After Woorinen kicked the first two goals of the game, Hay crafted an excellent goal from the back half.
A Ruby Cattanach intercept mark led to a midfield win to Ellie Jamieson, with the ball propelled forward for Lily Tassell to take a forward 50 mark and go back and kick truly to get Hay girls on the scoreboard.
Jade Doidge and Lucy Shea were getting some important touches on the wings and providing Hay some good forward momentum.
Down a couple of goals at quarter time, Hay was up against it pushing into the wind.
Ella Fitzgerald kept Lions competitive in the midfield, continually getting important touches and driving the ball into the Lions forward line.
Ella Harrison was working hard in defence to clear the football, and Katie Howard on a back flank was running hard and putting her opponent under pressure.
Struggling to clear the ball from their backline, Lions never gave up and there was plenty of tough defence throughout the quarter.
At half time Hay were feeling the heat, but with the wind in the third quarter coach Webb called on the team to win the quarter and that’s exactly what the Lions did.
Emily Hill worked hard with her running, and Christy Webb got some important forward tackles. Verity Auldist took control of clearing the ball from the backline with help from Kirsten Hutchings. Hannah Jamieson and Maggie Shields fought for the football up forward and Poppy Barnes got on the end of a handball to kick truly and snag a goal.
After a great third quarter by Lions, while Woorinen were leading at three quarter time and having the wind for the last quarter, they knew that they were in a battle.
Last quarter saw Jade Auldist move back to shore up the defence and land some important tackles. Sarah Houston got dangerous across the half forward line as did Emily Taylor, Janee Davies kept the energy up and Sienna Lund hit the scoreboard with an excellent running goal.
When the final siren rang out, Woorinen Tigers had run out winners showing plenty of run and footy skills. Lions had a put on a great performance and won plenty of admirers with their efforts.
Final score: Hay 5.4-34 Woorinen 10.5-65.
