Swift and Rise take top spots heading into Finals Weekend
Swift men and Rise women secured top spot in their respective groups after an unbeaten round 2 at The Fly 2024 ahead of finals weekend on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 June.
As The Fly returned to Rosslyn Park, London for its second weekend after a hugely successful opening day in Manchester, the competition was hotting up even if the weather was slightly cooler than the previous week.
Forge 12-18 Rise (women)
Reigning champions Forge came unstuck for the first time in 2024 as they took on a determined Rise side led by captain Claire Faram who scored a hat-trick as her side claimed victory.
Emma Savage played out of her skin and helped Rise to the win as she hit five and took advantage of an uncharacteristically sluggish performance from the team in green and black.
Hustle 11-10 Swift (women)
A repeat of a tasty semi-final from 2023 didn’t disappoint as Hustle regrouped after their opening day defeat to Rise to secure a first 2024 victory against Swift.
Despite having Georgie Southorn sent off early on for the second time in two games, Hustle were able to put in an excellent performance and a hat-trick of goals courtesy of Minty Loxton-Barnard saw them eventually come out 11-10 winners.
Hustle 24-25 OT Swift (men)
Swift’s tactic of simply out-scoring every team they play this year continued as they took on last year’s The Fly champions Hustle in an enthralling encounter.
Swift stormed to an early lead but could never really shake Hustle off throughout the exchange with Alex Russell notching up 50 The Fly career goals as he, Ryan Hunns, Ed Loveland, and Drew Wilkinson scored three each and Jack Dearden and Mike Pomfret scored four.
As the game went into sudden-death over-time, Swift’s star-man Dan Jones, who’d already scored five in normal time, hit his sixth of the game to win it for his team and ensure they’re three unbeaten at The Fly 2024.
Rise 10-23 Forge (men)
After a difficulty opening day for both Rise and Forge that yielded no wins and no points from three games, both sides were looking to kick-start their 2024 campaigns in this one.
Rise really never got going and Forge proved too strong as Tom Roper, Tom Bracegirdle, Jamie Powell, and Louis Alhage combined brilliantly to score 18 of Forge’s 23 goals.
Forge 4-11 Hustle (women)
In the final women’s match of the day, Hustle followed up their win earlier in the day by securing a second win in 2024 against the 2022 and 2023 champions Forge.
The team in purple successfully broke down Forge’s incredible defensive structure and nullified them in front of goal to go into finals weekend with two wins and one loss.
Rise 11-18 Hustle (men)
Day 2 at The Fly 2024 was closed out by a second Hustle win of the day against Rise in the men’s competition.
Rise showed their quality by keeping up with Hustle throughout the match but a bruising 0-9 final quarter killed them in their pursuit of that elusive first win this year.