Leapoole Leap over Grasshoppers Scoreline

Sunday (21st February 2016) saw the long-awaited match between Leapoole and Grasshopper.
 
Grasshopper were fast out of the traps in the first quarter and took an early five goal lead. However, Leapoole's sluggish start began to dissipate, as they capitalised on a couple of Grasshopper errors in attack, and turned the ball over. The first quarter was very closely contested, with Grasshopper leading it until just before the end, when Leapoole shot steadily to go one goal in front - the score 14-15 in Leapoole’s favour.
 
The second quarter followed, with Leapoole capitalising with some good attacking play, which Grasshopper were unable to contain and by the end of the second quarter, Grasshopper trailed 22-30.
 
At half time, Coach Anne Melling made no changes and Grasshopper went out with renewed energy for the third quarter. Unfortunately, they were still unable to contain the Leapoole attackers, whose shooters were consistently accurate. Grasshopper’s opposition pulled further away as the quarter went on by the end of the period, were leading 33-48.
 
The final quarter saw Amy Brennan come off as C and Hannah Wale take her place; Donna Osborn moved from GA to WA, with Katie Long coming in as GA; Laura Scigliano came off as GD, with Megs Palmer taking her place and Sarah Barbour coming on as GK - to match the height of the Leapoole GS. Whilst Grasshopper did manage to stem the flow of Leapoole goals somewhat, they were still unable to match the opposition’s scoring totals of the previous three quarters. In the end Leapoole ran out eventual winners by 39-63.
 
Hopefully, Grasshopper will have the chance to turn next weekend's meeting with Leapoole into a win - as the two teams meet again for their re-arranged match that was postponed earlier in the season.