Newcastle Vikings ladies fought hard but were eventually beaten 20-29 by Tryst 77 in Saturday’s Scottish Handball League match at Edinburgh’s Oriam Sports Performance Centre.
The two sides went tit for tat for the first part of the match, with goals from right-half Oliwia Szymkowiak’s brace, line-player Sandra Christke-Lamb, right-winger Andrea King and centre Marlen Slinning Goulty keeping the Vikings level-pegging with their opponents. However, Newcastle never quite managed to get their noses in front, and Tryst slowly began to edge ahead, despite the best efforts of Great Britain goalkeeper Sophie O’Sullivan pulling off some great saves.
Szymkowiak struck another double, left-half Alexandra Inta broke to beat the keeper, and captain Christke-Lamb hit a treble to round off the half, but Tryst had opened an 11-15 lead half-time.
One of three usual goalkeepers in the Newcastle team, Caroline Bergum scored her first Vikings goal from the left-wing. However, the Vikings lost their season leading goalscorer Szymkowiak to a thumb injury early in the second half, and with no substitutes available were forced to play out the rest of the match with just 6 players.
Tryst quickly took advantage to open up gaps in the Newcastle defence, as well as scoring several goals on the fast-break. Newcastle briefly threatened an unlikely fightback, but a further three goals from Goulty, two apiece from King and player-of-the-match Christke-Lamb, and one more from Inta, were ultimately not enough as Tryst ran out clear winners 20-29 by the final whistle.
Player-coach Goulty nevertheless felt the Newcastle team had tried their best and looked to the positives from lots of great moments on court. The result leaves the Vikings mid-table in third place, ahead of taking on bottom-of-the-table EK82 next weekend.
Newcastle Vikings: Sophie O’Sullivan (GK), Marlen Slinning Goulty (4 goals), Oliwia Szymkowiak (4), Andrea King (3), Alexandra Inta (2), Sandra Christke-Lamb (6), Caroline Bergum (1).