Netball Nations Cup: Samoa deal Singapore 47–53 defeat in top-of-the-table clash

Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports. Photos by Joseph Lee and Jerald Ang/Red Sports

Singapore captain Lin Qingyi (GD) rises to swat away an attempted pass to Samoan Goal Shooter, Monica Fuimaono. (Photo 1 © Joseph Lee/Red Sports)

OCBC Arena, Wednesday, December 10, 2014 — A top-of-the-table clash between the only two undefeated teams left in the tournament lived up to its billing as the world no. 19 Singapore team gave a feisty display to run the 14th-ranked Samoan team close, keeping the boisterous home support of 1,410 on edge before losing 47–53 eventually.

Starting the game with possession, Singapore scored the opening goal through Charmaine Soh (Goal Shooter), which was the only time in the match the Republic had the lead as 1.92-metre tall Monica Fuimaono, the tallest Goal Shooter faced by Singapore in this tournament, combined with Kendra Falefitu (Goal Attack) for 53 goals from 61 attempts.

Monica’s and Kendra’s efficiency from within the goal circle quashed multiple attempts by Singapore to fight back and level scores after first trailing 1–2.

Singapore did it once at 18–18, five minutes into the second quarter, before Samoa established an eight-point gap heading into the half-time interval.

Then, in the third quarter, Singapore fought to narrow the deficit to three to enter the fourth and final quarter still with a chance of sneaking a win. Alas, after maintaining the deficit eight minutes into the quarter, Samoa pulled away with excellent shooting from within the goal circle, making 15 of 16 shots (94 per cent) for their highest conversion rate in a quarter.

Despite the loss, Singapore coach, Ruth Aitken, expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance. She said, “I thought it was a great game. I was delighted the way we kept fighting back. It was … obviously the hardest game we’ve played.

“We used our speed when we changed direction and … ball speed. When we slowed the game down, that was when we played into their hands. 47 is just about one of our best scores for the week and to do that against the best team is actually really good. As a coach, I took a lot of positives out of it; I still want more — I’m a coach — but I think it was great.”

Premila Hirubalan, whose valiant hassling while playing as Goal Keeper in the first two quarters could not keep Samoa from scoring 30 out of 36 attempts, agreed. She said, “It’s actually not a bad defeat. Look at the score – it’s very close. Every quarter we actually fought back. We started quite well in the last quarter as well so we thought we could win – we always think we can win lah.”

When asked to comment on how she dealt with Samoa’s Monica Fuimaono (Goal Shooter), Premila, who shifted to Wing Defence after the half-time interval (allowing Chen Lili to come on as Goal Keeper after replacing Ang Shi Qi, thereafter limiting Samoa to 23 goals from 25 attempts), said, “Big Mon, yeah, she’s been around for awhile, since I was young. She’s always tough because she’s big, strong, and very tall. And she’s quite mobile for a very big girl. We (Micky and Premila) had to come and double on her because we’re short. But when Lili came on, we could play our own game. Do some one-on-one outside where we got more turnovers.”

With the win, Samoa have confirmed their place in the final on Saturday, while Singapore can earn a second chance at beating Samoa by winning their final preliminary round match against Malaysia on Friday. Malaysia, who have one less win than Singapore, can qualify for the final if they win and emerge with a higher goal average.

While Botswana are also in the reckoning, having to rely on a Malaysia win over Singapore and hope they rack up a large enough win in their own match against Papua New Guinea to record a superior goal average to the two Southeast Asian teams, Samoan captain Sanita To’o does not think it will come down to that. She said, “Singapore definitely pushed us to the limit. I’m just glad we got the win in the end. By the looks of it, the way that they played tonight, I’m definitely expecting them for Saturday.”

Singapore Starting Line-up
Lin Qingyi (Goal Defence, co-vice-captain), Premila Hirubalan (Goal Keeper), Ang Shi Qi (Wing Defence), Nurul Baizura (Centre), Kimberly Lim (Wing Attack), Chen Huifen (Goal Attack, co-vice-captain), Charmaine Soh (Goal Shooter)

Samoa Starting Line-up
Kendra Falefitu (Goal Attack), Natu Faanana (Wing Defence), Monica Fuimaono (Goal Shooter), Opheira Harder-Karatau (Centre, vice-captain), Natalie Jones (Goal Keeper), Sanonu Robertson (Goal Defence), Sanita To’o (Wing Attack, captain)

Scores by Quarter
Singapore vs. Botswana
1Q: 13–16
2Q: 9–14 (22–30)
3Q: 13–8 (35–38)
4Q: 12–15 (47–53)

Related Stories
Singapore off to winning start against higher-ranked Papua New Guinea
Singapore beat Botswana 46–41 for second straight win
Fringe players help Singapore to third straight win over Ireland

Results

Sunday, December 7
Singapore vs. Papua New Guinea: 47–42
Ireland vs. Botswana: 39–50
Samoa vs. Malaysia: 56–30

Monday, December 8
Ireland vs. Malaysia: 36–40
Papua New Guinea vs. Samoa: 44–58
Singapore vs. Botswana: 46–41

Tuesday, December 9
Samoa vs. Botswana: 49–34
Malaysia vs. Papua New Guinea: 52–43
Singapore vs. Ireland: 47–20

Wednesday, December 10
Botswana vs. Malaysia: 51–36
Papua New Guinea vs. Ireland: 56–35
Singapore vs. Samoa: 47–53

More photos next page