Belle Construction crowned champions as Cresta and Artifex promoted…

BELLE Construction were crowned champions in the Premier Division as the South and West Dorset Winter League came to a close.

Cresta Leisure secured their place in the top flight, while Artifex took their spot in Division One after the two sides finished top of Division One and Two respectively.

Premier Division

GEORGE BAR AND GRILL 37

NEW BODY FITNESS 15

GREAT tactical play from George, especially around their shooting circle, saw them take an early lead.

New Body countered with some well-timed interceptions and a steady pace but George were able to keep ahead.

George’s shooters made superb use of rebounds to keep the points flowing; Jenny Ayles’ consistently strong defence at WD put pressure on New Body to keep the ball out of their circle.

In the end though, it was George who came out on top with an outstanding lead.

Division One

CRESTA LEISURE 31

BAY FENCING 16

CRESTA showed their experience, with each player doing their part to secure points and take an early lead.

Bay fought well to get the ball to their shooters, however, they were unable to capitalise on scoring opportunities thanks to fantastic interceptions from Cresta’s Lucy Astrid (GK) and Abi Tinsley (GD).

Bay’s circle defenders, Corrine March and Ella Stanton, upped the pressure in Cresta’s D; Cresta got creative with precise overhead passes into their shooters, who were waiting to convert.

Both teams continued to fight for possession with evenly-matched play, although Cresta made better use of scoring opportunities to help secure their place in the Premier Division next season.

COASTAL CHEESE 9

BEAMINSTER BRAVES 11

A CLOSELY-CONTESTED first quarter saw both teams playing a very defensive game.

Brave’s Maisie Amos (GK) made some superb interceptions to give her team scoring opportunities; however, some great tactical play by Coastal evened the score to 4-4.

Coastal’s Wendy Doyle (C) and Carla Harper (GA) worked together to take advantage of loose balls, allowing their team to score the only goal of the second quarter.

With each team scoring one goal, Coastal were still slightly ahead going into the final quarter.

However, Braves upped their game to secure turnovers, with particularly good interceptions from Laura Alexander (C). Braves found their rhythm and pushed ahead of Coastal to claim the hard-fought victory.

Division Two

ARTIFEX 27

NMP PROPERTY 18

ARTIFEX made a strong start, with great teamwork from their shooters to score a string of goals.

NMP responded with well-timed interceptions from Megan Edwards (C) but Artifex made some good interceptions of their own, keeping NMP’s scoring opportunities to a minimum.

Artifex pushed further ahead, with good tactical passing around court from Jane Bayley (WA) combating rigid defence from NMP’s Ellie Wellman (WA).

NMP found their rhythm and started lowering the score difference.

However, Artifex held on to their lead going into the final quarter.

Heavy rain upped the difficulty for both teams in the final quarter, but they made good use of short passes to keep the game flowing.

NMP worked well to capitalise on scoring opportunities and lowered the score difference a bit more.

However, Artifex’s superb play throughout the match saw them end the season undefeated.