WSL2 Report by Darren Steere

With Mietta & Lara attending their school formal, we still had a good turn out with 10 players. We were playing Monash Uni’s top team, so we really didn’t know what to expect. Tactics were to look after the ball, make good passes and full press. This paid off as we didn’t allow Monash to threaten our goal and they turned the ball over to us. This meant our girls were able to swim hard into attack, resulting in a goal to Maria and 3 to Alex including a penalty. Up 4-0 at the first break. The next quarter was similar, but Olivia decided to produce her golden arm, with a nice long range outside goal, followed by a turning CF goal. Alex added another penalty, while Phoebe and Ash got on the scoresheet. Which by the way, the table was being manned by the coach and Alex coached from the water. We had a handy lead at halftime, 9-2. The third quarter saw Olivia (now only having eyes for goal😆) score again, with Sarah adding one and Alex striking again with another 2. Ando and Danielle were working hard in defence, then using their swimming prowess to push quickly into attack. Now comfortably ahead with 13-3. The last quarter saw Katie come out of the cage for a rare swim in the field, and Phoebe (who’s had a big month, getting engaged while gallivanting through Europe and celebrating her birthday) moving to goalie. Sarah added another goal as did Maria. Emily was unlucky not to score after swimming around the defence to sit-up for a shot, only to be denied by their goalie. Olivia finished off a big night, by bagging another two. A good solid game, always in control and multiple goal scorers. Good defence, not allowing Monash to threaten our goal on too many occasions.

Essendon defeated Monash : 17 – 5 Goals : Alex 6, Olivia 5, Maria 2, Sarah 2, Phoebe 1, Ash 1

WSL3 Report by Lisa Murray-Segal

With Susan putting up Christmas trees and Georgia out with back issues we still managed to get 9 girls onboard this week, and all arrived before the start of the game. TICK. We welcomed back Taryn for her first game of this comp, and she bagged our first goal inside the first 40secs. Then things settled, and the ball went back and forth, but we had most of the attacking play without being able to convert. Up 1-0 at the break, the second quarter was tight as Monash stepped up their attack and managed a few breaks. Sandra did a great job in goals deflecting many shots but Monash managed to score twice. Equally our efforts in front of goal were sharpening up, with shots going in for Taryn and Isi. So we had a slender 3-2 lead at halftime. Clare moved into the spotlight in the third with 2 goals, while we conceded only 1 to Monash. We started the final quarter up 5-3, and could see they were tiring... despite the 4 they had on the bench, and the average age of their team, being half ours. Through dogged defence, Sally nabbed the ball on two occasions to thrust us into attack. She landed a beautiful cross pool pass to LisaMS who put away her trademark look away shot. Sher got into the action too, slotting one in but Isi took the 3 votes with a trio of goals despite sitting on two majors (don't take that literally!) LisaAs continued her strong role at CB throughout and Heidi provided solid swimming support and passes to get our attacks set up. Monash managed just a single, and it was game over. Special thankyou to Colin (Heidi's hubby) for making his debut table duty appearance!

Essendon defeated Monash : 10 – 4 Goals : Isabelle 4, Taryn 2, Clare 2, LisaMS 1, Sheridan 1

MSL3-4 Report by Marcus Jones

The Essendon-Monash 4s team played a Melbourne Surge team this week and they were bloody fast and fit. The match was tight all game with both teams making basic skill errors and 10 seconds later scoring brilliant goals. Our goalie was immense under pressure and with a few more better passes the outcome of this game would have been different. Congratulations to both teams for playing a tough but fair game.

Essendon/Monash drew with Melbourne Surge Grey : 7 – 7 Goals : LeeH 2, Lucas 2, Vince 2, Simon 1

MSL6 Report by Marcus Jones

The game started off brilliantly - not - with team manager Hayden forgetting the kit bag. Monash kindly offered us their spare hats and a ball so we could get in and warm up. With just one on the bench we started strongly scoring the first goal. Monash were younger and fitter, but we had wisdom and experience on our side. The game progressed goal for goal until halftime and then Monash's fitness started to show dividends and our fearless captain Bryan could barely keep his head above water during the second half. Monash outscored us by 3 goals as we struggled to keep pace. Great game from our Venosta brothers and from Luke who swam hard all night. Speical thanks to Levi for stepping up and supporting the team, giving us a valuable bench.

Essendon were defeated by Monash : 5 – 8 Goals : Liam 3, Luke 1, Bryan

JNR MEN Report by Darren Steere *R7 Game*

With Mike away on a well earned family holiday, I stepped up to cover as coach for the boys as they played top team DVE. Things were not going to be easy with only 7 players fronting up and DVE with at least 3 on the bench. We got away to a reasonable start with both sides testing each other out. Hugo got us on the scoreboard with our best shot on goal, while DVE slotted in 3. The damage was done in the second quarter, when we turned the ball over with bad passing. This stifled our attack, not being able to hold the ball and it cost us goals as DVE counterattacked with 0-6 goals opening up a big deficit at halftime : 1-7. We steadied the ship in the third quarter, with our defence holding DVE to one goal, while Hugo added one. Down 2-8 at three quarter time. The last quarter was even again, despite the fact we hadn't had a substitution all game. We worked hard to gain two penalties which were converted (Nick 1 & Hugo 1) to keep the score line parallel, as DVE also added two. All in all a reasonable game, with players missing and no subs, better ball control and better body positioning when defending, will see a much better result.

Essendon United were defeated by DVE Aquatic : 4 – 10 Goals : Hugo 3, Nick 1

U14 MIXED Report by Alex Steere

GAME 1 : We started the game off strong, holding our own in defence and moving up the pool quickly to attack. The more games we play together, the more we start to look like a team. Many of our shots on goal coming from a combination of passes, including an incredible pass from Beth on the hand to Amelia, who scored. As the game went on we worked together to steal the ball and work it up the pool to score. Geelong started holding back in defence, attempting to sneak away down the pool with no defenders to score. Although we tried to man up, they were able to get a few shots in. However Luke made a great save as goalie, from a Geelong player on a fast break! Bonnie also began to put the pressure on in defence and as often found in the right spot in front of goals to score. We are starting to look very strong as a team as we continue to work together

Essendon defeated Geelong : 8 – 2 Goals : Amelia 3, Bonnie 2, Wesley 1, Frankie 1, Emily 1

GAME 2 : A tougher game for our second game of the day as we lined up against Geelong’s under 14 girls team. This team was strong and faster than some of the other under 12s teams we were used to playing. We took an early lead in the first quarter 2-1, but they weren’t making it easy for us. As much as we put pressure on them in defence, they were putting just as much pressure on us in attack. We went without a goal in the second quarter and they scored again, making it 2 all at half time. They had also started dropping a player back in the hopes of getting an easy goal, and we had to make sure we didn’t leave them alone to score. Wesley and Frankie played great halves in the goal, saving some important shots to keep us in the game. We were able to get another 2 goals to their 1 and hold onto the lead for the game. It was a tough game, but very rewarding to see the team keep their composure, work together and take the win.

Essendon defeated Geelong : 4 – 4 Goals : Emily 2, Amelia 1, Wesley 1

U14 BOYS Report (editor)

I understand we didn't have a club coach available for the game this week, so Karly Flahive from Footscray kindly agreed to step in and look after our players (thankyou!)

Essendon were defeated by the MC Otters : 0 – 16