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\u201cThey are a tidy unit; they held us on the scoreboard,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they got a gain or if it was their centre pass, they were just clinical in getting the ball down (the court).<\/p>\n
\u201cThat shows their experience with the players they have got and the connections they have.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe longevity of their team \u2026 they\u2019ve all been there a while.<\/p>\n
\u201cHats off to them, but we go down to a team that\u2019s been in the grand final the last two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Strikers got brilliant contributions from young gun goal attack Teal Hocking (19 goals from 21 attempts) and vice-captain and goal defence Zoe Davies, whose multiple VNL championship-winning experience came to the fore.<\/p>\n
Goal shooter Gabe Richards capped a solid first season for the Strikers by scoring 30 goals at 85.71 per cent accuracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeal\u2019s work rate really got up there as the game went on,\u201d Brereton said of Hocking\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, everyone had solid patches tonight, it just wasn\u2019t a consistent four quarter game by everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brereton was quick to assure her playing group that not even a loss could detract from what had been in many ways a special season for the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what I said to the girls, don\u2019t let this one game define how good our season was, because at the end of the day, we are second-year VNL club and we have made a semi-final,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t be too upset about going down to the grand final team from last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big tick for us was just making finals, and we did that. And we got one win from the finals out of the 23s and Champs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve ticked the boxes really.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brereton\u2019s sentiments were echoed by Strikers captain Chelsea Sartori, who insisted she could not have been prouder of everything the team had achieved during the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe score definitely didn\u2019t reflect our game and didn\u2019t reflect our season either,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are disappointed as we have gotten so close, only two games away from being there on grand final day, but Boroondara were just too good tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just played amazing and unfortunately, we couldn\u2019t match it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I was so proud of the girls to keep fighting until the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing that we have created history; we\u2019ve made finals and we won a final as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get to a semi is pretty amazing in our second year. This is only the beginning of our success.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the other Championship semi-final, Hawks advanced to the grand final with a shock 60-49 win over previously unbeaten City West Falcons.<\/p>\n
The Falcons will play the Express in next Wednesday night\u2019s preliminary final.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A BREAKOUT VNL Championship season in which the Bendigo Strikers ticked off plenty of boxes is officially over after a semi-final loss to Boroondara Express on Wednesday night. Aiming to build on the club\u2019s first ever finals win over Casey Demons seven days earlier, the Strikers put up a brave fight against the Express, but […]<\/p>\n