By Emma Giles
The Maroon Machine went head-to-head with the defending champions, University of Free State (UFS), in the Netball Varsity Cup (VC) semi-final on 22 September. While the game was tightly contested, in the end UFS came out on top with a 46 – 35 victory.
Although the game ended with an 11 goal difference, the third quarter was won by Maties with an impressive Powerplay performance, scoring a total of six points and ending the quarter 34 – 30 in favour of UFS. The Powerplay is a two minute period where every goal scored counts two points, sponsored by Suzuki. Each team can call their Powerplay once within the match, at a time that they believe will allow them to capitalise on it most effectively.
In the absence of a third and fourth playoff, this fixture resulted in a fourth place finish for the Maroon Machine out of the eight university teams that participated.
Michelle van der Merwe, second-year BAcc student and goal shooter for Maties, said, “Overall the whole tournament [was] a highlight of my university experience”. She felt that she “made [her] younger self proud” and that “in school [she] would have never believed that [she] would play for [her] University’s first netball team.”
Sasha-Lee Petersen, Maties’ head coach, expressed pride in the way her team “put in the hard work, […] play[ed] for each other” and displayed growth “both individually and as a unit.” Petersen felt that the team “stuck to their structures, trusted one another and kept pushing even when the momentum shifted.” Moving forward, they will look at improving their “transition and decision-making in the goal-third.”
Petersen expressed heartfelt gratitude to “[their] amazing Maties fans” for showing “unwavering support, energy and cheers.” She further expressed that “[the fans have] been behind [the team] every step of the way and it makes all the difference.”
