WSL2 Report by Darren Steere
On a cold Tuesday night, first game of a new season, players were hard to find. Due to travel, sickness and school commitments we scrapped together just 8 players. The match got underway against NYP Yellow, and it was evident that this is NYP’s second team. We started in our usual defence and we created many fast breaks from it, but we did take a bit too much time to deliver the final pass. We did score through Ando and later Sarah, making it 2-1 at the first break. In the second quarter we decided to go into full press all around the pool as they didn’t have a CF that would trouble us. This would also allow us to continue to counter attack. We created more chances on goal than all the meals created on MasterChef. But it was all wasted by not scoring, this left the score closer than it should have been. Ando’s second was matched by one from Alex giving us a 4-3 lead at halftime. It was much of the same in the third, with our press creating turnovers and our fast breaks working, and we did a little better on shooting. Olivia, Ash & Maria were working hard on their pressing. Denise is starting to settle into this team and was dangerous in attack. We got 4 goals on the board, two a piece to Ando and Sarah, increasing our lead 8-5. In the last quarter we brought Claudia out of goal and Sarah donned the red cap. The game continued to improve for us, as our counter created chances and those chances resulted in goals. Maria finally zeroed in on goal, with a penalty and then an outside shot. Alex added one and Ando finished her big game with two more.All in all, a good hit out after some time off, but we’ll need to continue to improve to stay near the top in this competition.
Essendon defeated the NYP Dragons YELLOW : 14 – 6
Goals : LisaAndo 6, Sarah 3, Alex 2, Maria 2, Claudia 1
WSL3 Report by Lisa Murray-Segal
We entered this competition with a healthy team list of 12 senior women plus the ability to call on another 3 junior girls when required. But in the week leading up to our first game, 2 senior ladies decided to sit this comp out, and another 4 were either sick or unavailable in the 24hrs prior to meeting StCaths in our R1 game. Down to just 6 players, the call went out to our trio of junior girls but we were unsuccessful in recruiting their help and were doomed to face the Pink Ladies man down for the game. Not the start to this comp we wanted to make. With just 1min to game time, we had just 4 girls on deck. We knew we had 2 more coming, so persuaded the refs to give us another 5mins before declaring a forfeit. Our 5th player rocked up with 3mins to spare, but a phone call to our 6th player established she'd gotten the time wrong, and was just leaving the house. So that was that. An official forfeit given, and the chance for everyone to go home warm and dry. But no. StCaths were keen to get in, and offered us their 8th player, and one of our refs for the game - Chloe (Monash) - grabbed a cap too to give us the full 7. After 15mins of water polo (no subs for either team) we called it quits and hit the showers. Let's see if we can get some points on the board next week, by getting a few more of us to show up!
Essendon were defeated by St.Catherine's : 0 - 8 (FORFEIT GIVEN)
MSL5 Report by Nick Downing
A cold north wind rocketing across the MSAC outdoor pool in the middle of winter had some of us questioning our life choices tonight. However, once the whistle blew, it was on and the rats never looked back! The first half saw lots of great offensive pressure and rock solid defence with the score 3-1 at half time to Essendon. With three different goalies, we kept them guessing - however the stand out red cap for tonight was Vince with multiple rocket blocks which would have otherwise possibly rendered the other goalies of the evening unconscious. Three goals to Lee who also had the energy to win his swim ups, two for Liam and one to Haydo who gets a special mention for his very special and splashy backhander with a pirouette.
Great game tonight boys, let’s win the season!
Essendon defeated Ajax : 6 – 3
Goals : Lee 3, Liam 2, Hayden 1
Youth Girls (16&U) Report by Danielle Tulloch
This is a new combined team, with players from three clubs - Monash, NYP Dragons and Essendon. Our three girls - Amelia, Frankie and Emily were awesome! The team accepted them immediately and they all had some excellent time in the water.
Monash/NYP Dragons/Essendon defeated the Richmond Tigers : 6 – 4 Goals : TBC
YthG Game Day Photo (courtesy of Danielle Tulloch)
14&U BOYS Report Torben Fink-Jensen
With a couple of players out injured, we were down to the bare 7 and had a player withdraw on the morning so we knew it would be a bit of an uphill battle. On the positive side, we had Tobias and Jack back from their national development carnival in Hobart. Our players took their chances well in the first quarter with Liam shooting from long range and Jack outmanoeuvring the goalkeeper to get a second. With everyone taking a turn in goals it was Liam next. We still managed a good couple of attacks and Jack again got a good shot away to get our third. We were able to regroup at half time and revised our tactics, however the challenge of playing only 6 on the field was taking its toll and we were starting to run out of puff. The story didn't change in the final quarter but we stuck at it and some of the boys learned some good lessons given it was their first game for the U14s.
Essendon were defeated by DVE Aquatic : 3 – 17 Goals : Jack 2, Liam 1
14&U Boys Game Day Photos (courtesy of Torben Fink-Jensen) - see more on our FB page
