WSL2 Report by Torben Fink-Jensen

It is an interesting time of the year for the WSL2 team with the school/university players entering exam season, meaning no Claudia or Olivia tonight, adding to the loss of Katie and Phoebe from the regular side. This meant a call up for Emily Tulloch out of juniors, and with her came her mother Danielle after an 18-year gap between games! NYP were a very experienced unit, with a mixture of strength and speed, and they have won this competition a number of times over the years, so we knew it was going to be a tough game. In the first quarter, they went out to a 2-0 lead before we pegged them back with goals to Alex and Ash doing a great job getting into space and getting a free shot on goal making it 2-2. The story was the same in the second, with another 2 goals going past Maria who was saving plenty apart from those. Mietta was the star, despite getting a kick-out for having a go at the NYP goalie, she then received a perfect pass to tap into goal before turning her defender from CF to shoot past the keeper. Now 4-4 at halftime. The third quarter followed the same pattern with NYP getting ahead 4-6 before Alex picked up a pair to bring it back to 6-6. This time NYP broke the pattern by scoring 1 more (potentially dubious goal after a foul inside the 6m), but we matched it quickly for 7-7 before the break. In order to give us more legs for the final quarter we moved Maria out of goals in a swap with Lara. Both teams were really working hard in the final term and NYP hit their customary 2 goals to make it 7-9 before we came back for 9-9, with LisaAndo finally getting rewarded for all her hard work up front, and Sarah getting her second from a long shot. The pace was getting frenetic now as the game went up and down the pool, with a few steals causing everyone to turn quickly. Now it was Essendon's turn to hit the lead for the first time in the match with Alex scoring her 4th with 5 minutes to go and it felt like Essendon might be able to stay ahead from here. Unfortunately NYP had other ideas and matched it to go to 10-10 with 3 minutes left, before they shot their 11th with 55 seconds to go. Essendon had one last attack but it didn't eventuate in a goal, leaving NYP to run down time. There was a final twist in the tail with Essendon getting the turnover with 15 seconds to go, and with Sarah hot on attack, the siren went just before she pulled the ball out of the water for a final shot. Whilst we didn't win we will take great heart knowing that a full team should stretch NYP beyond their limits in the next re-match.

Essendon were defeated the NYP Dragons (BLUE) : 10 – 11

Goals : Alex 4, Sarah 2, Mietta 2, Ash 2, LisaAndo 2

WSL3 Report by Lisa Murray-Segal

Coming off a good win last week despite our number issues, we were excited to have a spare this week. DVE Aquatic are new to SL3 (though they did have a social team about 5yrs ago) so we were eyeing up the girls as they donned their hats in preparation. It became obvious that this was a young side, full of 16-18 year old players, and that meant fast. We were without our 6 goal star from last week in Isi, and Taryn was still a non starter with work commitments so we were well down on our regular firepower. Whilst we started with confidence, it became apparent that these girls knew what they were doing, and were quick to get it done. There was plenty of back and forth in the opening quarter that saw DVE score twice, but we hit back with a nice goal from Clare. The second quarter really did the damage as they applied some great defensive pressure and doubled up on our CF whilst pushing our other players out from goal. They scored 5 goals, but we managed to hang in there with another 2 from Clare. We didn't score at all in the third and they put away 3, so the final quarter was moot, but we attempted to keep their scoring down and sneak in a few of our own. Our only success came with Clare and her 4th goal. We couldn't stop DVE bagging another 3. We were convincingly beaten the whole game on turnovers and fast breaks. Just too many speedsters to cover, and too many old ducks (like this reporter!) doing the chasing 🤣

Essendon were defeated by DVE Aquatic : 4 – 13

Goals : Clare 4

MSL4 Report by Marcus Jones

With the withdrawal of our MSL4 team, a few of us are still looking to compete at this level. This week, Lucas and I joined the Monash MSL4 team for some rough and tumble action against Melbourne Collegians. Fun fact : your author joined Essenon Water Polo Club before most of the opposition was born🤣. It was a hard fought game with the end result being a 6-7 loss with an unfortunate goal going against us in the last 30secs of play.

MSL6 Report by Bryan Wee

It was definitely the Vince show tonight. Like Superman, he was shrugging off players and shooting goals. Ably assisted by Haydo who had his best game in awhile. Luke was up and down the pool and I watched. Usually from far away. Sam stopped many attempts and Nick seemed to swim in circles but won all the swim ups. Such was his excess energy. Liam was a rock in Centre Back and apart from a few fast breaks including two 5ms we kept defence strong. Andrew was tireless and gave a few sitters he should’ve shot. He passed at least one to me which was a waste. Convincing win. Happy campers!

Essendon defeated the NYP Dragons : 10 – 4 Goals : Vince 7, Hayden 2, Luke 1

MSL6 Game Night Team Photo

JNR MEN Report by Mike Holtz *R4 Game*

Last week there were 2 games scheduled on the same day, Rounds 2 and 3. Our round 2 game was a "bye" and our Round 3 game saw us receive a forfeit/win when the NYP Dragons/Geelong Marlins could not field a team. So after 3 rounds in which no one from the team got wet, Essendon United found themselves in 2nd place on the ladder and facing off against #1 DVE. With the loss of most of the 18&U players for personal reasons, we’ve united with 16&U players from Melbourne Collegians & Richmond to contest the season. On the day availability further limited us to 7 players and no bench. The first half was a tight contest with tough defense by both sides limiting scoring opportunities. Goals to Josh and Xavier saw us level with DVE 2-2 at half-time. A cracker of a goal to Will in the third kept the boys’ spirits up. The full bench of DVE players were eventually able to break free in a 4 goal third quarter. Looking forward to working with the boys as we improve communication in the pool and settle in for a good summer of water polo.

MC/Rich/Ess United were defeated by DVE Aquatic : 3 – 8 Goals : Xavier 1, Will 1, Josh 1

U14 MIXED Report by Alex Steere

This week we finally had a full team with 3 on the bench as we lined up against Richmond. A few new faces too with Beth's sister Margot and Amelia's cousin Luke playing their first games. The team worked well together, passing the ball around the pool looking for each other and the goal. Our first goal came from great teamwork as Emily carried the ball down the pool, passing to Amelia, who shot but missed, with Wesley recovering the rebound for a goal. Frankie played well in goals, making some great saves, but Richmond were persistent and eventually got one through. As the game went on, the team worked together, passing the ball around, finding the available player, and scoring the goal. Defence was also stronger this week, with everyone coming back to help defend and making it difficult for Richmond to move the ball around. The final goal of the game came from Beth, her first goal in her second game!

Essendon defeated Richmond : 9 – 1 Goals : Frankie 3, Wesley 3, Amelia 1, Emily 1, Beth 1

U14 Mixed Game Day Photos Courtesy of Torben Fink-Jensen (see more on our FB page)

U14 BOYS Report by Darren Steere

The boys faced up to DVE, a lot smaller in size, than our first two round opponents. We got off to an even start, with the pace down a notch or two. But I think we were a bit jumpy from previous games and turned the ball over when we didn’t need too. This led to DVE snagging two goals, while we were still trying to get some position balance in attack. The second quarter was very much a carbon copy of the first. However we were starting to put DVE under some pressure in front of our goal but by half time they had a handy 0-4 lead. The third quarter saw us continuously pushing forward, allowing Henry to bag a goal. This led to DVE dropping a player in front of Henry playing at centre forward, and picking off passes to him. Jack was sniffing around the goals, looking for any scoring opportunity. Magnus was playing a tight game in defence, along with Zac, Josh & Tristan. Felix was playing well in goals again, and Liam was trying to link up between defence and attack. We finished at 1-6 going into the final term. The last quarter saw the ball go from one end to the other. We were unlucky not to score again, while DVE got two. It was a consistent game with DVE scoring 2 goals every quarter, and not blowing us away. Our next step forward, is to make better decisions and passes to each other.

Essendon were defeated by DVE Aquatic : 1 – 8 Goals : Henry 1