Basketball, Soccer, Rugby League and World Games

Spiders ensnare Newcastle Hunters in WABL basketball / Maitland Mustangs outside chance for play-offs / Northern NSW 17's defeated in penalty shootout / Sydney and Newcastle set for soccer rematch / Junior rugby league competitions extended / Register for Sydney World Games by July 31

Spiders ensnare Newcastle Hunters in WABL basketball

Last weekend the Hunter women had a double header taking on the Hornsby Spiders at home at 5pm on Saturday July 18 and then travelling to Alexandria to take on the Sydney Comets on Sunday July 19. The men only match was against the Spiders, tipping off at 7pm on Saturday July 18 at Newcastle following the women’s game. In an unsuccessful weekend for the Hunters, the teams lost both home games to the Spiders and then the women also went down to the second placed Sydney Comets in Sydney on the Sunday.

The results were:
Women: Hornsby Spiders 87 (Kristen Barnes 29) defeated Newcastle Hunters 77 (Katie-Rae Ebzery 24, Maddie Allen 11)
Sydney Comets 79 defeated Newcastle Hunters (Katie-Rae Ebzery 22, Kristen Forbes 12)

Men: Hornsby Spiders 104 (Pj Isaacson 35) defeated Newcastle Hunters 75 (Mathew McGovern 20, Mathew Cook 17, Cameron Springall 17)

On Sunday July 26 both Hunters teams travel to Sydney to take on the Bankstown Bruins with the women’s game tipping off at 12 noon and the men’s at 2pm. A tough road trip is expected with the Bruins on top in the Women’s competition while the Hunters are sitting in 7th spot. In the men’s the Bruins are 5th with the Hunters at the bottom of the ten team ladder.

For more on WABL basketball go to: http://www.waratah.basketball.net.au/fs_home.asp

For other basketball stories on representative and wheelchair basketball as well as other districts go to: http://sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=288

Maitland Mustangs outside chance for play-offs

The Mustangs next home match is on 25th July at 6pm against the lowly placed Hills Hornets. The Mustangs are in 7th spot and have an outside chance of making the 6th play-off position. They require a big win and have the Hornsby Spiders (currently 6th) lose by a wide margin to top placed Manly Warringah to fly over the Spiders

For more on WABL basketball go to: http://www.waratah.basketball.net.au/fs_home.asp

Northern NSW 17's defeated in penalty shootout

The Westfield National Championships for Girls has wrapped up at BCU International Stadium, Coffs Harbour. The Northern NSW under 17’s girls coached by Kean Marshall met Queensland in their fight for 1st place.

The first half was an even match between both sides and the game remained goalless until the second half when Northern’s Rhali Dobson nabbed the lead with a goal fifteen minutes in. When one of their players shot from long range straight into the back of the net, Queensland found an equalising goal with just ten minutes on the clock remaining.

Neither Northern nor Queensland was able to break the gridlock during normal time and the game was forced into extra time. Extra time was unable to separate the two sides and the game moved into a penalty shootout which saw the Northern girls defeated 5-3 on penalties.

Marshall was content with the way in which the game played out and the cooperation the team showed towards him and with each other.

“It was a relatively even game – in reality 1-1 was a fair result, but being a final it had to go to a penalty shootout. The girls played quite well and everyone did what I asked them, it’s disappointing the result didn’t go our way,” said Marshall.

Despite the disappointment, Marshall’s Under 17’s achieved a feat in itself, playing throughout the week for a place in the final and ending the tournament in 2nd place.

Overall Northern NSW found success at the championships as just yesterday Jason Aird’s Under 15’s finished in 3rd place.
To find out the latest news for Northern NSW Football including inter-district competitions go to: http://www.northernnswfootball.com.au/default.aspx

Newcastle Football is one of six associations under the umbrella of Northern NSW Football. The other Associations are Football Far North Coast; Football Mid North Coast; Hunter Valley Football; Macquarie Football; North Coast Football; Northern Inland Football.

In other news Westfield Young Matildas Head Coach, Alen Stajcic, has selected a 23-player squad to compete in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Women’s Championship to be held in the Chinese city of Wuhan from 1 to 12 August, 2009, including Herald Women's Premier League players Emily van Egmond and Gema Simon. For more on the competition go to: http://www.northernnswfootball.com.au/News/News%20Item.aspx?ItemID=262&page=News

Sydney and Newcastle set for soccer rematch

Sydney FC has locked in the last match of its packed pre-season program, with the Sky Blues to warm up for the start of the new Hyundai A-League competition with a trial clash against the Newcastle Jets at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The match replaces Sydney’s scheduled friendly against Shanghai Shenhua, which was cancelled following the late withdrawal of the Chinese Super League side.

Photo: Sydney and the Jets face off in Port Macquarie on Sunday July 12

Newcastle is expected to provide another good test for the Sky Blues, two weeks out from the new season, with Sydney claiming a 2-nil win over a competitive Jets outfit on Sunday, July 12 in a friendly clash in Port Macquarie.

The pre-season rematch will kick-off at the Sydney Football Stadium at 2pm on Sunday, July 26. Story and photo from www.sydneyfc.com

Newcastle and Hunter Schoolboys Junior Rugby League Competitions extended

The Newcastle Schoolboys Junior Rugby and the Hunter Valley Competitions have been extended 1 week till the 1st August. Grand Finals will now be held 29th August.

To find out the latest news for Schoolboys Rugby League in Newcastle go to:
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=7-2358-0-0-0

Register for Sydney’s World Masters Games by July 31

There is still time for Newcastle sportsmen and women to register for Sydney’s World Masters Games in Sydney. Over 6700 people have registered for the World Masters games in Sydney on October 10 -18, 2009. Over 28 sports will cater for participants of varying standards and ages.

For example, tennis has singles, doubles and mixed doubles in ten year age brackets from 30+ to 80+ with A grade for competition players and B grade for social players and beginners. Basketball will cater for social to elite teams from 30+ to 70+ in 5 year ranges.

Other sports include archery, basketball, football (soccer), netball, swimming and touch football

Registrations close on July 31. For more details go to the World Games web site: http://www.2009worldmasters.com/default.aspx

What's on around NSW with Sport and Recreation

NSW Sport and Recreation runs programs that will help you get active, improve your fitness or try a new sport. For more details of what’s on in the region go to: http://www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/active/whatson.asp