Perfect Swift go unbeaten to win Women’s Championship
Swift completed a perfect Finals Weekend to defeat Forge 21-16 in the The Fly Championship game and take the inaugural title with a 100% record.
The Final was an absorbing high-scoring encounter with very little between the teams until the last quarter where Swift were finally able to pull away and secure victory to go 6 out of 6 for The Fly.
Swift reached the final after defeating Hustle 16-10 in their semi-final while Forge came through 15-13 against Rise to reach the Championship game.
Swift raced into an early advantage relying on the firepower of Torz Anderson and Laura Warren to catch forge a little cold, but the challengers were soon into their stride and began to really make Swift work.
Forge Head Coach, Conor Dockery, reverted to a tactic seen on Opening Weekend by leaving a player in the attacking half and utilising the pinpoint clearing of goalie Emilie Chandler to pick up multiple quick transition goals, Chandler finishing the game with four assists.
Ellie Jones led the scoring for Forge with six goals and they went ahead at both 8-7 and 12-11, throughout Q2 and Q3, but each time Swift reacted in the vain of champions, going on their own scoring runs to quickly regain the lead.
Swift went into 3/4 time with a 15-13 lead, and the match was set for a grandstand last eight minutes.
However, Swift had other ideas and set about taking the game away from Forge with a mix of fine goalkeeping and deadeye shooting.
Katie Greenwood, later named Goalie of the Tournament, made her mark coming up with a number of crucial saves to restrict Forge to just three goals in the final period and kill any thoughts of a late comeback.
Meanwhile, Swift were able to maintain their accuracy, Anderson closing the game out as she started it to finish with seven goals for the game and claim the Golden Stick Award for her 17 goals at Finals Weekend taking her team to a 21-16 win.
In the 3rd/4th Play-Off, Rise put the disappointment of missing out on the Final behind them to beat Hustle 14-9 and finish in third place.
Scorers
Swift: Torz Anderson (7G, 1A), Laura Warren (5G, 3A), Emma Brown (3G, 2A), Laura Merrifield (2G, 2A), Anna Neville (1G), India Chadwick (1G), Miranda Nicholes (1G), Hannah Whiteley (1G)
Forge: Ellie Jones (6G, 2A), Anna Saunter (4G, 1A), Emilie Chandler (4A), Liv Wimpenny (3G), Alex Drewe (2G, 1A), Olivia Higson (1G)
Final Standings
Swift
Forge
Rise
Hustle