WSL2 Report by Darren Steere

The wind had calmed down by the time we arrived at MSAC for our 9pm clash with Melbourne Uni. We were dealt a lesson in aggression last week and our pregame talk was about upping our intensity from the first whistle. I think we matched MU, in all but scoring. MU can be a bit heavy in fouling and we were keen to get them excluded. We managed 4 exclusions, giving us 4 extra man attacks and none of them led to a goal. Our only goal for the quarter came via open gameplay to Alex. down 1-4 at the break. While the game continued on the same way in the second quarter, we were finding it hard in attack to get open for a decent shot on goal. A missed penalty didn’t help and we got to halftime, with only Alex’s second goal troubling the scorers, 2-7. The second half of the game saw our scoring disappear completely. I probably should have checked they weren’t junior goals we were aiming at! We were continually getting extra man attacks, 5 to be exact, and we never looked like scoring. One of their major fouls led to a penalty which Alex threw against the bar, but as the major was the MU girls 3rd and she didn’t get out, Alex retook the penalty which was then saved by the goalie with two hands. 😫 We did manage to slow down their goal scoring, through good defence. Starting the final quarter down 2-9, nothing much changed, same same. In total we got MU excluded 14 times, that’s 14 extras and didn’t score off any of them.🤬 As we spoke about at the end of the game, we are missing a couple of major outs in Mietta (overseas), Phoebe (injured) and Sarah (learning how to arrest people). We have welcomed two new players, in Andy & Gen. So we will take a little while to get our connection back again. Its a long season, but we need to get cracking.

Essendon were defeated by Melbourne University : 2 – 22 Goals : Alex 2

WSL3 Report by Lisa Murray-Segal

Having lost our first two games by 10 and 11 goals respectively, we were keen to cut the deficit and start to make some inroads. We faced a new SL3 team this week in Richmond. There was much speculation as to what this side would be, and our guess that it would consist of their best U16-18 players was pretty spot on. I'm not even going to bother describing this game because we got belted. Two or three lightening fast players making a break every single turnover. No way we could cover that. We were missing 3 key players, but I'm not sure the outcome would have been much different. This side was seriously SL2 level. At quarter time it was 6-0. For the remainder of the match they took a step back and decided to slow down the game and use us for practice. We found a niche set play feeding the ball into Sher then onto Clara at CF. We managed 3 goals for the game using that exact set up. We never gave up, and kept having a go despite one opposition comment "I don't know why you bothered". Not sure what Richmond gained from this match except perhaps an ego boost... and I'm not sure they needed that either!

Essendon were defeated by Richmond : 3 - 19 Goals : Clara 3

JnrW (18s) Report by Danielle Tulloch

A cold Sunday morning game! The Monash/NYP/Ess team struggled with numbers due to a number of illnesses and started with just 6 players. Essendon were represented by Kyrene, Denise, Emily and Clara. The Geelong/MC/DVE team had 10 starters!! Coach Chloe had a positive attitude and encouraged the team to set up man down in defence and use their swimming to shut down any fast breaks. Luckily our seventh player arrived at the end of the first quarter with the Monash/NYP/Ess team just one goal down. The second quarter was a great contest! Both teams had opportunities to score - including the Monash/NYP/Ess goal keeper who nabbed two in the first half. Clara scored an excellent rebound goal. Denise and Kyrene both had good shots on goal. By the start of the third quarter, the team reallt started to work together! The Essendon’s girls were fantastic!! Emily won the swim up and was working hard to drive and make space. Kyrene had two fast breaks and converted her second. She then had another outside shot which went in. Clara was so strong in both attack and defence. Denise was pivotal in keeping the ball moving and setting up for a great offence. The team were up 7-4 at the end of the third. The last quarter was very physical with the Geelong/MC/DVE team wanting the win! They scored two goals without reply. With 90secs to go the Monash/NYP/Ess were running out of steam with no subs for the whole match. Geelong/MC/DVE had control of the ball and the parents were VERY stressed… Monash/NYP/Ess somehow held on to take the match 7-6 for their first win of the season. Well done to the team!

Ess/Mon/NYPD defeated Geelong/MC/DVE : 7 - 6 Goals : TBC

JnrW Game Day Photo (courtesy of Danielle Tulloch)

YthG (16s) Report by Anne Macdonald

Well, it was a bit challenging this week. Essendon/Monash/NYP with one DVE player managed to scrape together a team of 7 to play Richmond Tigers Yellow on a sunny Sunday morning at Melbourne High. The Tigers had 2 on the bench and had the advantage of everyone knowing each others names prior to the game. It was a bleak start - 8 nil down in the first quarter. The second quarter was a bit better - Piper scored our only goal of the match and we held Richmond to 5 goals. After the half time break, the Tigers came out roaring, scoring 6. Despite being exhausted we managed to hold Richmond to only 4 goals in the last quarter.

Ess/Mon/NYPD were defeated by Richmond Yellow : 1 - 23 Goals : Piper 1

MSL4 Report by Marcus Jones

The night was cold and most of the Essendon men had a fever... a fever of water polo energy. The Mills boys were smiling, the Venosta boys were telling us their set plays, Bryan was still finishing his 3rd lunch. The Richmond team was a mix of young and old with many years of experience. The first quarter saw our best players doing their best stuff - the two Mills boys swimming and shooting the ball into the back of the net. The Venosta boys manned centre forward with Haydo directing from the bench. However the opposition were swimming more than us... this spelled DANGER in the 2nd half. Unfortunately our 2nd resembled a poorly made pizza with key ingredients spread in random ineffective places. Shout out to Ambrose Mills who scored 4 goals even though the scorer gave the goals to his brother.

Essendon were defeated by Richmond : 9 – 13 Goals : Ambrose 4, Lucas 2, Bryan 1, Liam 1, Michael 1

14&U Boys No Report Available

Essendon were defeated by Richmond : 2 – 14 Goals : TBC