A goal in the dying seconds stole victory from under Ashburton College A’s noses and sealed Methven a place in the 2018 Mid Canterbury Netball ACL premier one final on Thursday night.

Methven A had trailed the entire game until Leanne Clemens calmly slotted that final goal with six seconds left on the clock to win it for her side 29-28, breaking the hearts of the young college players.

Methven A will now take on Celtic A in the final after they took out the night’s other, vastly different semifinal, downing Mt Somers 47-27.

That result may have never really looked in doubt, but it was a different story in the game between College A and Methven A. College A led 8-6 at quarter-time and had extended their lead to 16-12 at half-time.

Methven A roared back into the game in the third quarter, tying the scores up a couple of times but never actually taking the lead, and, at three-quarter time, College A’s lead had been reduced to just one at 22-21.

College A still looked to have the edge, but Methven A wasn’t going away and with just one minute left on the clock they drew level again at 28-all to set up an intense final 60 seconds.

College A had the centre pass and got the ball to the shooting circle, but what could have been the winning shot missed and Methven A pounced on the rebound and, despite a huge defensive effort from College, managed to get the ball to the steady hands of Clemens who slotted the winning goal.

Methven A coach Maree Firth said she was stoked with the way her girls dug deep and never gave up.

“Someone said to me after the game ‘how’s your heart?’. I think my heart ran away,” Firth said.

She said College A played well and fought all the way.

“We were never out of it, but we were never in it either,” she said.

“We knew that we had some mature heads and we just wanted to play percentage netball.”

While gutted to have fallen so short, College A coach Kaye Kennedy said she was proud of how far her girls had come this season. She said if someone had asked her in round one if her girls would be in the semi-finals and getting so close, she’d have told them her young side wasn’t ready yet.

“I’m proud of the girls because they have come such a long way and it was just a great game of netball and a great spectacle for the spectators,” Kennedy said.

“(Methven’s) experience probably showed in the end and we had a couple of umpiring decisions that didn’t go our way at crucial times, but you can’t control that, that’s just the way it is.”

In the night’s second semifinal, Mt Somers faced a huge ask against this season’s frontrunners, the unbeaten Celtic A. The two sides met in the final round last week and Celtic A won by 20 and although Mt Somers looked like they were going to push them a lot harder this week when they trailed by just a couple of goals mid-way through the second quarter, by fulltime the margin was again 20 goals.

Methven A shooter Leanne Clemens prepares to claim a feed into the circle during her side’s dramatic semifinal win over Ashburton College A on Thursday night. Photo Erin TaskerCeltic A was up 9-5 in the first quarter when they lost centre Julia McLeod with an ankle injury, but Debbie Summerfield picked up where she’d left off and Celtic A led 11-6 at quarter-time.

Mt Somers rallied in the second quarter and got back to within a couple of goals before Celtic A really put the foot down. They picked up intercepts across the court and put together a string of goals to lead 25-15 at half time.

By three-quarter time the margin was 17, at 37-20, and although the final quarter was closer, the game was already decided.

Celtic A coach Angela Leadley said her side played as a team and looked after each other.

“Sala Bueta (goal shoot) owned that court, demanding the ball. She has just improved out of sight this season and she kept us in the hunt for a while there,” Leadley said.

Mt Somers player/coach Kate Oliver said the game didn’t feel as one-sided as the scoreline suggested and she was proud of her side.

Mt Somers were the new kids on the block this season, forming a new team and starting in premier two before being promoted to premier one after the first round. To make the semifinals of the top flight was a big achievement and Oliver said they were now focused on finishing third.

While Celtic A and Methven A play off in the big show next week, Mt Somers and College A will square off in the third place play-off.

Hampstead A and Celtic B played off for fifth place on Thursday night and ended up sharing it, after the game ended in a 30-all draw.

In the premier two semi-finals on Thursday night United A and Southern A produced big wins to seal places in next week’s premier two final. United A beat Celtic C 54-17 while Southern A beat Ashburton College B 44-23, while Methven B won the play-off for fifth against Rakaia A 35-30.

United A and Southern A both started their seasons in premier one, but were relegated to premier two after rounds one and two.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 24 August 2018