By Stephanie Smarrelli
The Origin Australian Diamonds have fallen short in match two of the Constellation Cup with the Silver Ferns taking their second win of the series.
The Diamonds hit the ground running winning possession on the Silver Fern’s first centre pass with Cara Koenen slotting the first match goal.
Although the Diamonds lost control with the Ferns scoring through Ameliaranne Ekenasio moments later and then Grace Nweke capitalising with the next goal.
The defensive pressure from Amy Parmenter, Jamie-Lee Price, Courtney Bruce and Sarah Klau worked well to slow the speed of the Ferns compared to match one. However, the ball see-sawed from one end to the other with mistakes being made from both sides throughout the first quarter.
Off the back of a Bruce intercept the Diamonds hit the lead late in the first quarter with the defence across the court from the Diamonds making every Silver Ferns’ feed challenging, however, the Ferns worked their way through.
The defensive work from the Diamonds held up throughout the quarter and across the court with a captain's intercept from Liz Watson the difference with the Aussies taking a one-goal lead into the second, three intercepts to zero against the Ferns.
Australian captain Liz Watson led by example with her defensive pressure adding to the work the Diamonds' defenders were doing.The Diamonds started the second quarter on song with a strong drive from Koenen opening her up for a goal.
Bruce and Klau wreaked havoc in the Ferns attacking end, winning more ball back for the Diamonds while Wood and Koenen gelled together in attack to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
As the quarter wore on New Zealand’s Kelly Jury worked her way into the match, applying pressure over shots for the Diamonds and keeping the Ferns from falling more than a handful of goals behind.
Sharp shooting from the Ferns with both Nweke and Ekenasio shooting at 100% also kept the Ferns from faltering in the second.
With New Zealand back within a goal and a few minutes left in the first half Maddy Proud became Diamond 186 as she graced the court in centre.
Hands over pressure from the Ferns stopped the Diamonds from scoring right at the end of the quarter, resulting in the Australians holding a one goal lead at the major break.
Sarah Klau challenged for every ball in defence.Capitalising off their end to the first half the Ferns score the first goal of the second half and drew even with the Diamonds.
A wayward pass from the Diamonds and fast movement from Peta Toeava landed in the hands of the Ferns’ shooters for another goal and a lead change early in the third.
Hesitation to go to the post gave the Ferns the opportunity to take possession and push their lead out to four goals.
As a result, shooter Sophie Dwyer became the second player to debut for the Diamonds in the match, taking the court in goal attack and nailing her first goal attempt.
A series of mistakes saw the Diamonds fall behind to five goals, no longer disrupting the flow of the Ferns as they were throughout the first half.
Diamond 188 took to the court with defender Ruby Bakewell-Doran making her debut in the green and gold.
Ruby was one of three Diamonds to debut in match two of the Constellation Cup.Having put their foot down throughout the third, the Ferns headed into the final quarter with a five-goal lead.
Kate Moloney and Jamie-Lee Price added some more energy to the Diamonds’ midcourt for the fourth quarter.
The Diamonds defence lifted preventing the Ferns from taking a clear path to the goal, however, the pairing of Ekenasio and Nweke were too accurate to stop.
Down by seven goals with five minutes remaining, the Diamonds showed fierce intent to work their way back and won the last quarter, however, lost by four goals.
With two wins under their belts New Zealand’s Silver Ferns are in strong position to keep the Constellation Cup, however, the Aussies are still in with a chance and will be ignited by a home crowd when the sides meet again on Wednesday.
