Mooroopna exacted revenge on its preliminary final opponent Seymour on Saturday in a performance that had Lions A-grade coach Ellie O’Sullivan applauding her opponents.
The Lions were unable to break their way through a stellar defensive effort from Maddi Wong and Caitlin McLachlan and settled for a 35-23 defeat at Mooroopna.
Nothing seemed to go right for O’Sullivan’s charges as they struggled to match the intensity and pressure from the Cats.
Defensive trio Sarah Szczykulski, Bridie Cantwell and Ruby Trimble worked tirelessly to provide some hope of claiming a road win but it was to no avail.
“Obviously it was a disappointing loss. Mooroopna played a great game of netball. They played to win and deserved to win,” O’Sullivan said.
“As a team, we didn’t perform as good as we could have. As individuals it was a bit disappointing, but as a team we didn’t perform as what we would have liked.
“They gelled really well as a team and as a defensive unit. They were all over everything ... it felt like they were able to do that for 60 minutes of netball — it was a really good defensive effort (from Mooroopna).
“I thought Bridie, Sarah and Ruby played well in defence and if we didn’t have those three it would have been even worse than what it was.
“We’ll get back to training, rebuild our confidence, rebuild our connections and prepare for Mansfield.”
Seymour was without star midcourter Casey Adamson, who was a late call-up to play for Collingwood in Super Netball action.
Adamson found some court time towards the end of the match as the Magpies suffered a defeat to Adelaide Thunderbirds.
“Casey got the call-up on Friday, which was amazing, and she got some minutes too,” O’Sullivan said.
“It’s so exciting for her. We’re really happy for her and it’s so surreal to see her on TV.”