R5 : WSL1-2 (Combined League) - Report by Torben Fink-Jensen

Essendon welcomed new player Emmy Lyndon with some NZ experience, which helped make up for no LisaAndo, Genevieve, Phoebe and Andy. Playing Surge, last year's Div 1 bronze medallers, so we knew it would be a hard game... but they started with only 6, leaving a glimmer of light as we started the game. We made the opening minutes count as Emmy drove down the far post and slotted in the bottom corner. Great way to introduce herself to the Club. We followed up with Mietta getting away a great shot from the top beating the goalkeeper for a surprising 2-0 lead. The scoring continued in our favour as we saved a couple of shots at our end before Emmy put Emily in space for another great goal. Being up 3-0 would not be the expectation before this game started. Unfortunately with their 7th player now in the pool, their confidence came back and we ended up 3-4 down at the quarter break. While their scoring continued in the second, we still managed 2 more goals to keep in touch from Maria and Mietta. The Essendon players were doing a great job keeping pace with Surge but the Surge girls' longer arms and better technique was causing problems in front of our goal to make it 5-9 at half time. Surge started making their presence felt in the third quarter as the goals started to flow. We did have some good shots on target which were well saved, but Maria nailed one to keep our scoreboard moving. Their shots were starting to look a bit easy as they were increasingly driving away from our players, finishing the term at 6-16. The story didn't change in the 4th quarter. We started off well as Mietta sucked a penalty but couldn't put it away. Lara threw a great shot which was saved but she chased the ball in. And finally Mietta managed another shot and score to finish off the game. It wasn't a win but we were much more competitive than we thought. Next week's bronze medal game is against the NYP 1s, another Div 1 team - so hoping we'll have a full team available for another tough match!

Essendon were defeated by Melbourne Surge : 8 - 23   

Goals : Mietta 3, Maria 2, Lara 1, Emmy 1, Emily 1

BELOW : Our WSL2 team in action this week up against a WSL1 side (photos courtesy of Torben Fink-Jensen, see more on our FB page)

R5 : WSL3 (Essendon) - Report by Lisa Murray-Segal

After 8 weeks in warm and sunny Europe, it was time for this old girl to return to the chilly environment that is the outdoor pool at MSAC in winter.  Having not thrown a water polo ball since March and carrying some additional buoyancy, I was looking forward to some quality time on the bench that our list of 14 players would provide.  Game morning we had 9 players confirmed and one maybe, but by 6pm that had dwindled to just 7.  Things got worse come game time, when we found we only had 6 to start the game against StCath's 9 players.  On the plus side, we were pumped to have Isabelle on the sidelines as coach, as she recovers from a netball concussion incident.  As the whistle blew and StCath's won the swimup, we went straight into defensive mode.  Under pressure, they failed to score and we took off.  The ball went up and down the pool a few times before StCath's finally took advantage of their extra player and scored. Our defence continued to hold them out for the remainder of the quarter, finishing at 0-1.  Then our 7th player arrived and it was even numbers for the second.  We started strongly with Sheridan hitting a long shot goal from 7m. This was followed by another goal from Taryn, who rose out of the water like Poseidon to spear it in.  On a roll now, the ball came into Sheridan at centre forward, who turned the centre back and earned the foul (a trick recently learned at training!) then converted the penalty for her second goal.  Down the other end, our defence was still holding strong and Sandra was doing an awesome job in goals despite landing a ball in her face at training (one of our SL4 lads needs a good talking to!).  So we ended the quarter ahead at 3-1.  The halftime ramble from Isi was to keep defence tight and protect the advantage we had.  The third quarter was an arm wrestle, we were tiring, but Georgia continued to put herself up forward as an option, and threw a nice tight angled goal to push us further ahead.  Then StCath's got some momentum, as our defence slipped a little, and they put away two goals, closing the gap to just one goal.  But we smartened up our coverage of attacking players with Sally and LisaAs staying back to apply pressure.  Up the other end, yours truly (still managing to stay afloat) employed the old "look away" goal shooting strategy and gave our scorecard another nudge to regain our 2 goal buffer, finishing the third quarter at 5-3.  The final term was really about smart polo.  Defend defend defend, use our full 30secs in attack and be prepared to cover on the changeover.  It was a hectic quarter with StCath's throwing everything at us, but we kept them scoreless to take out the win!  One of the better games I've played in for some time, and it sees us overtake StCath's on the ladder to make the GRAND FINAL game next week!  Great work ladies!

Essendon defeated St Catherine's : 5 - 2  Goals : Sheridan 2, Taryn 1, Georgia 1, LisaMS 1

R5 : WSL3 (Essendon/Monash Juniors) - Editor

This week, Amelia was our sole representative in the combined Essendon/Monash team and Monash could only muster another 5 players, so the team played with 6 the whole game. Up against the undefeated ladder leaders, the girls did a good job to the keep the score as slow as it was.

Essendon/Monash was defeated by Old Ivanhoe : 2 - 13  Goals : TBC

R5 : MSL4 

Essendon were defeated by Richmond : 4 - 14  Goals : TBC

R4 : 14&U Girls - Report by David Sage

Our girls are part of a combined team encompassing Essendon, Footscray and Northcote. They have come a long way in a very short time.  Considering a few short weeks ago most of these girls had never met and lots of them hadn’t played a match, their development has been quite outstanding. This week’s match was super competitive, it could have gone either way, and whilst the girls didn’t quite get their first win - it’s surely just around the corner! What they did so well was play for each other, defend well and counter attack with some great moves.  Most importantly there were lots of smiles!

Essendon/Footscray/Northcote were defeated by Monash/DVE Aquatic : 9 - 10   Goals : TBC

R4 : Youth Boys

There was a scheduled BYE this week for the boys.

R4 : 14&U Boys

Essendon were defeated by Northcote : 2 - 23   Goals : TBA