Van Dyk supplies the magic to win trans-Tasman title
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| Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic win the 2012 ANZ Netball Championships Grand Final against the Melbourne Vixens. PHOTO: Mark McKeown/Musae Studios |
Irene van Dyk has faced an incredible week, and yesterday the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic shooter culdn't have smiled wider.
The 40-year-old, reeling from the death of her mother earlier in the week, embraced teammate Casey Williams while the Magic players held their ANZ Championship trophy aloft under the flying red, yellow and black confetti at Hisense Arena.
The Magic came from behind to beat the Melbourne Vixens 41-38 in yesterday's grand final in Melbourne, becoming the first New Zealand team to win the title.
After van Dyk flies back to New Zealand this morning, she will head to South Africa for her mother's funeral.
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But after yesterday's pulsating comeback, she let out shrieks of excitement as she described the feeling of holding the trophy. ''Pretty amazing,'' van Dyk said. ''Just glad that it happened to this bunch of girls because we've had our backs against the wall the whole time, and we just stood up week in and week out.
''It wasn't only for us here, it was for the whole of New Zealand. We had such a lot of best wishes from all over New Zealand so it was a pretty big game if you look at it that way.''
She said they had the belief to keep chipping away at the Vixens' lead. ''Regardless of what is happening and regardless of how many goals they were up, we just clawed it back one by one. It was just a crazy game. We were never in control. And probably the last 30 seconds we felt like we were in control. We had to scramble.
''It wasn't a pretty game, it was a real scrappy game … But ultimately we hung in there and we played the whole 60, which was quite nice.''
Sinking the goals at the end to seal the deal, the shooter said she was just wanting to score to make the pressure turnovers count.
A large contingent of Magic fans made up the 9400 sellout crowd, and got more vocal near the end. After the game, they performed a haka.
Before this season, many had questioned Magic coach Noeline Taurua's ability to get her side a title, with her star-laden team the only one to reach the playoffs each year, but failing to take out the clutch games.
''I knew it was going to be hard, and I thought out of our lot that we could actually get to number one,'' Taurua said.
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