Macedon put on a clinical display to give itself a double chance in the Riddell District Netball League finals.
The Cats started finals in the same situation as 12 months ago, with an elimination final at Diggers Rest on the Sunday.
This time there was no heartbreak with the Cats proving too strong for Lancefield, winning 56-40.
“It was a really good win,” Cats coach Katie Clarke said. “Lancefield has been a strong team all year and we had to come out to play.
“Everything just clicked and everything we’d been working on at training worked. We were really clinical.”
The Cats lead in wasn’t without drama with shooter Chloe Eyre missing due to the National First Nations tournament.
“We were looking at going in with one goaler,” Clarke said. “I was thinking, am I going to have to be in goals?
“But everything fell into place. Hetty [Donoghue] came back from injury and Claire [Oakley] was available.”
Clarke said it was nice to get Donoghue onto the court for a quarter and get some minutes back into her after she missed a number of weeks with an arm injury.
She said Molly McGrath had really stepped up in her absence and again showed that on Sunday.
“Claire and Molly were really good in goals,” she said. “Molly has been such a fantastic addition to the team and has the tank and ability to play out the front.”
Clarke said the most pleasing thing was that it was a real team performance.
With the team being in a rebuilding phase, it was massive for them to get a result like this to early in the process.
With Gisborne Giants losing to Wallan in the other elimination final, it means the Cats will get the double chance as the highest placed winner from the elimination finals.
They will face Woodend-Hesket in a semi final this weekend with a grand final spot on the line.
Clarke said they hadn’t even been thinking about having a double chance.
“We are rapt to have the second chance,” she said. “Our focus had been on what we needed to do.
“We’ll put our best foot forward and give it a crack Woodend we only played once and it was a good contest.
“We’ll get to work and see how they look and try to dissect what we need to do.”
The Giants debut season came to a heartbreaking loss.
Missing some key players, the Giants lost 47-37 to Wallan.
The Magpies will face Riddell in the knock out semi final this weekend.
