The Lady Suns Have Arrived

Saturday, June 28, 2014 - The Sacramento Lady Suns have shown they will be a force to be reckoned with in 2014, defeating the San Francisco Iron Maidens convincingly on their home turf.

The Suns and Lady Suns participated in the first ever Western Region Metro Tournament, hosted by the Golden Gate Australian Football League (GGAFL) in Daly City, and traveled in numbers with 27 men and 21 women, along with family and friends, making the trip down Interstate 80.

The Suns entered two mens teams into the eight team metro tournament, along with a team from the Los Angeles Dragons and the five metro teams that participate in the GGAFL, although it was very difficult to tell which GGAFL teams their players belonged to as they conveniently played for whoever they chose. Despite that it was a big day of footy for everyone and no doubt everyone was exhausted by the end of it.

Sacramento Suns One began their day in earnest with a 105 point belting of the San Francisco Knights in two 20-minute periods. They met their match in their game, against the San Jose Hornets, with the GGAFL team getting up by 16 points. In their final game Suns One were sent packing by a legitimate Mavericks squad, 68 to 1.

Suns Two also started their first game well, against the San Francisco Seals, leading by four goals at half-time. However a couple of ringers came to the aid of the Seals in the second half and helped them to an eight point win. The LA Dragons were too classy in the second game for Suns Two, defeating them by 66 points, and eventually winning the tournament over the Mavericks. In the final game for Suns Two the Oakland Pirates dominated handing them an 85 point thrashing.

The highlight of the day was certainly the emphatic victory by the Lady Suns over the Iron Maidens. Earlier in June they defeated them by 37 points in Sacramento but were determined to show that this was no fluke.

In the first quarter the Lady Suns opted to kick against the wind after the coin toss was won by Captain Amy Bishop. The Iron Maidens pushed forward at every chance trying to make the most of the wind advantage however they were continually repelled by the rock solid defense of the Lady Suns, including Makenzie Seckora, Helen Mondia, Vicky Schoennagel, Chiara Adamo, Amanda Mantzouranis and Michelle Koegler. Despite kicking into the wind the Lady Suns also pushed forward, driven by at every opportunity and created several scoring opportunities however they were unable capitalize on them. The only goal kicked for the quarter was by the Iron Maidens but we all know it came from the boot of a Lady Sun. ;-)

The Lady Suns took control in the second quarter making great use of the wind advantage. The midfield of Amanda De Carl, Alexa Blatnick, Lauré Kwoka and Alethea Sison gave the team first use of the ball resulting to eight scoring shots to zero. Goals were kicked by Alethea, Amanda D and Katie Klatt, however wayward kicking prevented the margin from being greater at half time, Lady Suns 3.7.25 to the Iron Maidens 1.0.6.

The Lady Suns bunkered down in the third quarter and prevented the Iron Maidens from scoring at all, despite the advantage of the wind at Gellert Park. Again they pushed forward where they could but blind kicking allowed the Iron Maidens stacked defense to hold fast. A fantastic effort by the Lady Suns to win the quarter despite only one point being scored.

The immense pressure created by the Lady Suns was a feature of their game, especially the fierce tackling, and it had set them up to come home strong in the fourth quarter. Alexandra Monrroy was tenacious and well supported by the rest of her team to help set up three goals, one more to Katie, one to Chelsea Wheeler and memorable after-the-siren ripper from Gay Bawanan. The Lady Suns piled on 3.4 to the Iron Maidens one point to register a 41 point victory.

Photos from women's game.
Photos from men's games.

Full Story: SacFooty.com