Blue & Gold build confidence ahead of Superleague Finals Weekend with impressive win at Saracens Mavericks
Team Bath Netball finished the regular 2022 Vitality Superleague season on a high note on Saturday as they recorded an excellent 59-46 victory at Saracens Mavericks.
It wasn’t the final-day fourth-placed showdown that the fixture looked like being for much of the past few weeks, with the Blue & Gold’s semi-final spot having been secured last weekend, but it was still an important match for building momentum and confidence.
Haines Watts-sponsored Team Bath flew out of the traps, taking the first quarter 17-10, before Mavericks responded strongly to cut the visitors’ half-time lead to 27-25.
Anna Stembridge took the opportunity to give court-time to all 12 players in her squad, and the changes had a big impact as Team Bath totally dominated the third quarter. Player of the match Layla Guscoth was once again hugely influential in defence as Mavericks were restricted to just five goals, while 18 were scored at the other end.
Team Bath went on to record a 13-goal victory, which meant they finished nine points clear of fifth-placed Mavericks on 36 points in the final league table.
Guscoth said: “It’s nice to win, we need that confidence going into the semi-finals, but we needed a challenge as well and I think we got that from Mavs. We got everybody out on court and played in different combinations which was really important, to make sure everyone is sharp going into what is going to be a tough game at Thunder.”
Stembridge added: “We’ve put a real shift in over the past couple of weeks and I’m really proud of the squad. We wanted to finish strong and I’m delighted with that performance across the four quarters.”
They will now face table-topping Manchester Thunder at Belle Vue in the semi-finals on Friday 3rd June (6.30pm centre-pass), looking to earn a place in Sunday’s Grand Final at the Copper Box Arena in London.
