WSL2 Report by Torben Fink-Jensen
With the season starting to settle down after summer, Essendon now had a regular team of 12 players, with just Lara missing, prioritising her O Week activities at University. Our opponents Monash only had 8 players and being in the lower half of the table, weren't expected to provide too much competition. Unfortunately, they proved pretty dogged opposition, starting strongly, putting the first goal on the board. Essendon were soon up and running and worked their way out to a 4-2 lead by the end of the first quarter, with goals to Phoebe, Sarah, Maria and Mietta. In the 2nd quarter, Essendon again started slowly but got into their rhythm. Phoebe earned and scored a penalty. Mietta did well with 2 goals, including a great steal coming back from CF, and Maria also stole the ball at CF for a goal. It was now 9-3 to Essendon and looking good for the rest of the game, with 3 Monash players getting into foul trouble with 3 players on 2 fouls. If Monash were expected to tire, it didn't happen as they matched Essendon goal for goal, mostly through perimeter shots and lobs. Phoebe continued her strong game with 2 goals in the 3rd quarter and another in the 4th quarter to end with a game-high 5 goals
Essendon defeated Monash University : 16 – 10
Goals : Phoebe 5, Mietta 4, LisaAndo 2, Maria 2, Sarah 1, Olivia 1, Alex 1
WSL2 Game Night - Photos Courtesy of Torben Fink-Jensen (see more on our FB page)
WSL3 Report by Lisa Murray-Segal
With a potential list of 12, we had only 8 girls confirmed for this week, with 7 being poolside when the refs got us started 5mins early. Despite the lack of a bench, we started strongly and Isi scored quickly to settle things down. With LaTrobe having identicle club colors and closely resembling caps we had to remember we were "white" and not pass to our oppostion under pressure. Sally created a nice break to take a pass and score our second, before Isi followed suit with her second to finish off the quarter at 3-0. Our defense had held strong and Latrobe hadn't been able to get a decent attack in play, but they turned that around in the second quarter as we began to tire a little and they took shots from 5-6m out. Former Essendon player Juliet Frankland put 2 shots away, before our 8th player arrived and provided a much needed bench. It gave us an immediate pep, and Isi scored her third before Clare chimed in with a goal. At halftime we had a 5-2 lead but were feeling more comfortable and starting to string together some very good passages of play. La Trobe became more frustrated in the third, and we earned 3 kickouts as a result. We didn't make use of all of them, but certainly had the setup right, and used our clock time well. Isi found the net again, and Clare scored another 2 whilst Susan in goals made sure LaTrobe didn't sneak one in. Up 8-2 as we started the final quarter the fouls came thick and heavy once more. Juliet was rolled for the game and Taryn converted her penalty shot after telling us all pre-game, there's no way she's taking one, because she always misses! Heidi had her strongest "throwing" game yet and was instrumental in setting up goals for others. Lauren and Isi put goals away to keep the scorecard moving but Lat Trobe couldn't get past our defence or Susan's solid hands. Done deal!
Special thanks to Miles and Drew for table help!
Essendon defeated La Trobe University : 11 - 2 Goals : Isabelle 5, Clare 3, Sally 1, Taryn 1, Lauren 1
MSL3-4 Report by Marcus Jones
Another late Wednesday night and another game of water polo against young fit people – I’m convinced a handicap system should be in place for young fit people!!! This inequality extends to the WPV fixture as we played Old Melbourne only 2 weeks ago and got smashed (3-10). Well readers never let it be said water polo players are stupid because our team learnt by our mistakes and put on a great display of hard nosed energetic water polo. We swam, we defended and we attacked. At one stage we were winning. This week our defence was on fire which nulled their strong centre forwards and made them a little frustrated and caused them to turn the ball over. This provided us many scoring opportunities which was helped by our Big Man Vince who provided water polo gravity not even Stephen Hawking can explain. In the end however we came up two goals short but a great performance all around.
2 missed penalties by Lee…….and we lost by 2……just saying.
Essendon/Monash were defeated by the Old Melburnians : 5 – 7
Goals : Lee 2, Vince 2, Kai 1
MSL6 Report by Hayden Woods
After 3 weeks in a row of man-down play, Essendon matched up against the youthful and energetic Monash Dolphins with the glorious luxury of 1 on the bench. Which was fortunate because the sum of the entire Monash team's bodyfat % was less than some of our individual players (your author included), and every turnover was punctuated with 3-4 fast swimmers looking for a break. 4-1 down at quarter time, the team adjusted strategy to minimise the fast break cherry picks, moved Haydo into a defensive role, and started to create some offensive opportunities. Some creative strategies from Ben 'Jaws' Woodley managed to confuse the umpires, and despite continuing to trail, Essendon was slowly clawing its way back on the scoreboard despite some inaccuracy in front of goal. A goal late in the last quarter drew the scores level, and some heroics from the Monash goalkeeper with 3sec left on the clock kept the scores tied for the second week in a row. A 5th quarter may have seen an Essendon victory, although several players may have succumbed to heart attacks in the process.
Essendon drew with Monash University : 7 – 7 Goals : TBC
