MORNINGTON NEWS scoreboard
Gulls complete clean sweep BASKETBALL
By Ben Triandafillou THE Chelsea Gulls weren’t fazed by an unfortunate change of venue, and scored a convincing victory over the Shepparton Gators to take out the Big V division one championship on Saturday 1 September. A car crash, where no one was injured, was the cause of the late change of venue, with a fallen power pole restricting access to the Gulls’ stadium. The Gulls instead faced the Gators in the second round of the bestof-three grand final series at the Frankston Basketball Stadium. That didn’t stop the massive wave of Gulls supporters flocking to the game to see their side lift the championship banner. The Gulls quickly took up the lead in the opening quarter and didn’t look back. While the Gators threw out a challenge in the second quarter, they were unable to match the vigour shown by the Gulls. The Gulls’ “big three” in Corey Standerfer, Matt Brasser and Mitch Riggs certainly bought their best to the final, dropping 62 points between them to claim the win by 10 points (83-73). Chelsea Gulls’ head coach Peter Caspersz said the way the side was playing, the championship victory never looked in doubt. “Hindsight’s a great thing, but after the first quarter it was pretty much all over,” Caspersz said. “They made a run at us in the
Gulls fly highest: Chelsea Gulls claim their Big V championship over the Shepparton Gators. Picture: Supplied
second quarter, but we answered everything that they threw our way. “Corey was a standout and got the MVP, probably by a country mile.
Mitch Riggs dropped 22-points and Matt Brasser went 14 (points) and 10 (rebounds). “The big three certainly came
through.” For the overall season, the Chelsea Gulls dropped just the three games and will look to push that
form into the state championship division next season. Caspersz said there will be some changes to the side to hopefully help match it with the competition in the higher division. “We’ll look at getting a second import and probably a new power forward and centre,” he said. “We use multiple [power forwards] at the moment, like Corey, but we need somebody who’s probably around six foot, 10 [inches] to be able to negate the bigger the guys. “It’s going to be tough [in the state championship division], and we’re going to need them.” Caspersz believes the step up to the state championship division is well within their capabilities. “Between the first couple of teams in division one, I think they would make the transition pretty well, but anyone else I think would struggle,” he said. “We will get a few practise matches in, but we won’t play anyone below us as it can give you a false reading on how you’re travelling.” The Gulls have their presentation night on Saturday 8 September before their league’s presentation in two weeks’ time. “We’ll then have a few weeks completely off,” Caspersz said. “I don’t think we’ll need to see each other for a bit after that, and we can all enjoy that time away.” The Big V season kicks off again in April 2019.
Keeper savours World Cup experience HOCKEY
By Ben Triandafillou MORNINGTON Peninsula Hockey Club goalkeeper, Julia Ashmore, represented Australia for the first time in the over-45s Masters World Cup in Terrassa, Spain from Saturday 28 July to Sunday 5 August. Ashmore entered the Australian side with little expectations for the World Cup but returned home just one spot shy of earning a bronze medal. Ashmore helped the national side match it with the world’s best in the scorching conditions, and after claiming four of their five matches in the group stage, Australia made their way through to the semi-finals. In the semi-final, Australia faced the in-form English side, which had won all five of their matches in the group stage, and were defeated 3-1. Australia went on to face Russia in the third-versus-fourth final, and while the scores couldn’t be split during regular time (1-1), Russia eventually claimed the bronze medal to win by one goal in a shootout. Ashmore said it was a little disappointing to not come home with a medal, but as always it was an honour to represent her country. “We had plenty of opportunities to snatch the win, but in saying that we were up against the world’s best and we did the best that we could,” Ashmore said. “We were a bit gutted, but overall the Australian contingent did extremely well and the experience was absolutely unbelievable. “We had a great team and a great group of women, and we all gelled well.” Ashmore wore her required goalie gear throughout the World Cup in
conditions which reached upwards of 40 degrees during the day. “It was a little bit unbearable at times but there was only one game that the heat got to me and that was against the Netherlands (4-0 loss),” she said. “It was extremely hot but a fantastic experience with a few interesting events.” Prior to the World Cup, Australia played in a couple of practise matches, with one being against the over-35s English squad. “On the way to the practise game the bus broke down which wasn’t too great,” Ashmore said. “Then once we got going again there was a fire on the side of the freeway which caused more delays for about an hour and a half. “Then coming back, the bus broke down again so we had to get another bus to take us back, It was just a comedy of errors in the one day. “We got there in the end and they were very tough. It was a good game and we were beaten only by about one goal.” Ashmore is set to travel again to Bunbury, Perth on Friday 28 September for the over-40s National Championships. Fellow Mornington Peninsula Hockey Club players Emma Brown and Kim Trezise will be representing Victoria in the women’s over-35s. Rebecca Gipp will also be representing the women’s over-50s and Margaret Nettleship will be representing the women’s over-65s. In the Men’s division, Todd Lisson and Greg Burch will represent Victoria in the over-45s and over-55s, respectively.
Green and gold: Mornington Peninsula Hockey Club goalie Julia Ashmore (no. 1) represented Australia at the Masters World Cup Picture: Supplied
Mornington News
11 September 2018
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