By LIAM TWOMEY
CITY West Falcons claimed the battle of the West in round one of the Victorian Netball League last week.
The Falcons smashed VU Western Lightning by 18 goals to get their VNL championship title defence off to the perfect start.
City West looked strong from the opening centre pass, scoring 14 goals in the first quarter to build an eight-goal lead.
With their backs to the wall, the Lightning tried to rebound and closed the gap to 10 at the main break.
However, in the second half, the Falcons kicked into another gear and secured the 52-34 win.
“They thoroughly deserved their win,” VU Western Lightning coach Matt Hills said.
“They were much better drilled than us and won many more positions all over the court.
“I’ve got to give credit to Casey Price (goal defence) and Emily Mannix (goal keeper). They had the better of our goalers on the night.”
As well as a strong defensive performance, City West was also led by shooting duo Alice Teague-Neeld and Julia Knott.
Teague-Neeld scored 27 goals from 28 attempts while Knott shot 25 goals from 27 attempts.
For VU, Kate Thompson was the pick of the shooters and finished with 24 goals.
“We will do a pretty thorough review on this performance,” Hills said.
“It is really important that you do that early in the season to identify some of the key things that you want to work on. Particularly when, like us, you’ve got some new combinations.
“The last two years we have lost our first game of the season so this is three years in a row. It’s not a good thing but not the end of the world. We will do a review and then we will dust ourselves off, pick ourselves up and be back working hard for training on Monday night.”
VU is expected to have Amelia Hills back for its clash with the Southern Saints this week.
For the Falcons, they will look to make it two wins in a row when they take on Fed Uni Ballarat Pride.
Both matches are at the State Netball and Hockey Centre on Wednesday night.
