Women's A Grade - Report by Torben Fink-Jensen
Both teams were even so far on the ladder with 0 from 2. Monash had one close loss and one significant loss whereas Essendon haven't been too far off the pace. Essendon were without Emmy and her stinging bounce shot, but were otherwise a full squad of 11. Monash started with 6 players, but we let them off the hook early with some fumbled passes and missed shots. 4 kickouts in the first quarter didn't help our mission as we played a lot of it with 6 on 6. Eventually we got a kick out and that allowed Lara to score the first goal. We followed that with 1 from Bene and Alex with a penalty for 3-0, before 2 late arrivals boosted the Monash team. Although at half time the score had only advanced to 5-0, it was a more cohesive effort in Q2, with Monash having a full team. Katie made a couple of great saves to keep a blank sheet, and at the other end Bene and Emily were proving hard to mark as they came through with strong accurate shots. Unfortunately the third quarter was all one way traffic - the wrong way. Long lobs were the order of the day and they managed to hit the corners. Essendon had a couple of good shots which were saved either by the goalie or the post, making it 5-4 at the end of the third. Essendon managed to right the ship in the final quarter with more stable play. Monash started with a shot saved by Katie, but Essendon moved the ball up swiftly with purpose and managed two goals from Mietta and Bene which put them out to a 7-4 lead and made the game safe. Monash landed the last punch, almost literally as Lara 's patience wore thin after having her opponent continually try to swim under her at CB and she was kicked out for blocking. Initially the umpire's call was a permanent exclusion for violent conduct before he corrected it to a standard exclusion. Meanwhile through all this, the clock ran down 30 seconds, allowing Monash time for one final goal.
Essendon defeated Monash : 7 - 5 Goals : Bene 2, Alex 1, Lara 1, Phoebe 1, Emily 1, Mietta 1
BELOW : Women's A game night - photos courtesy of Torben Fink-Jensen (see more on our FB page)
Women's B Grade - Report by Lisa Murray-Segal
This week we came up against the only other SL3 side in this grade, in StCath's. And even though they have had the better of us in recent years, we were buoyed by the fact we knew what we were up against and could put on a reasonable show. After lining up and having 2 on the bench, we were made to hang 5 in the pool waiting for their magical 7th player to show who had apparently reffed the game before ours. But as the minutes ticked on and no one appeared, our refs finally got the game underway and we played man-up for the first quarter. You'd think we would have learned from our game against Footscray last week, but again we failed to capitalise on our extra player. Our set up was vaguely right but we were crowding and passing the ball to someone who suddenly had 2 or 3 defenders on them. To rub it in, StCath's scored 3 goals before we finally managed to score with LisaMS putting away her trademark 'lookaway' shot. StCaths scored another 2, so we ended the quarter down 1-5. Their 7th player arrived for the second term, but we played a better game being one-on-one. We gave ourselves room this quarter up front and that resulted in two goals with solid shots from Taryn and Megan. Our defense slipped a little and we failed to cover a couple of breaks but we held them to 3 goals for the quarter, down 3-8 at halftime. We struggled in the second half, particularly filling the CF role where it was a real WWW effort to stay afloat. Several players switched in and out, and Polina made some drives but we couldn't get a shot on target until Hannah fought her way to the ball from CF almost on the goal line and scooted it over. At three quarter time it was 4-10. The final quarter was a repeat of the third, only we couldn't score. Another solid effort from StCaths, but there were a few patchy passages of play where we shone.
Essendon were defeated by StCath's : 4 - 13 Goals : LisaMS 1, Taryn 1, Megan 1, Hannah 1
Men's C Grade - Report by Lav Bujak
The Essendon boys turned up on a rather chilly summer night but were ready to play, some more than others. Sam jumped straight into the swimming line rope as he was just getting in the pool and needed minor medical assistance and therefore missed out on the first quarter, but played the rest of the game like a gun. Which didn’t start as expected by conceding basically the first shot, but the boys bounced back. As the Mills brothers tandem carried the team on their backs like usual, but also an absolute screamer from Marcus in the 1st quarter as well. Although a little early lead from Monash, the game was pretty much one sided as the boys controlled the game well and moved the ball nicely which led to some Monash ejections and even a 5m scored by Ambrose through the goalkeepers ears. Vince in the first and Marcus in the second half were the goalkeepers today doing well without Felix in goal. Overall great performance from the lads as we keep it moving.
Essendon defeated Monash : 14 - 8 Goals : Mills 8, Ambrose 5, Marcus 1
12&U Mixed - Report by Xavier Mom
This weekend we went to Geelong to play water polo at the Tristate Tournament. We were an Essendon Geelong combined team, that have been playing together in the regular Junior Competition.
On Saturday we played four games. Our first was against Footscray, which featured Dean J (Essendon) who shot Footscray’ s first goal. It was a close battle, but we lost this game. The next two games against Monash and Northcote we won. Amia scored her first ever goal, and Xavier shot 2 goals in the game against Northcote. Unfortunately, by the last game of the day, we were all tired and lost to a strong Melbourne Collegians team. On the Sunday, it was finals day. We had just the one game aginst DVE Aquatic in the 5th v 6th battle, but we lost 2-6.
All weekend, the weather kept switching between windy, sunny, cold, and rainy, but the pool was like a hot bath. It was a fun but tiring weekend.
BELOW : Amia and Xavier, and the 12&U Mixed Essendon-Geelong team - photos courtesy of Sheridan Mom
14&U Girls - Report by Kate Simnett
The Essendon/Geelong combination team competed in the TriState Tournament in Geelong on the weekend. The girls played all four of their qualifying matches on the Saturday starting at 8:30am with the final game commencing at 6:30pm! The matches were against some strong competition from Victoria, Tassie and NSW.
Their final game on Sunday ended in a 4:4 draw after a last-minute ‘ball under’ call resulted in a penalty being awarded to MC, with the shot being taken after the whistle!
Well done to all that played, it was an epic weekend and I am sure there were some tired girls (and parents!) headed home on Sunday. The difference between our form at Ballarat and then Geelong was significant and it’s been fantastic to see all that development.
As always, thanks to coach Emmy who also took a special training session on the Monday afterwards! Looking forward to seeing the 'Highlighters' in their next few domestic games - they certainly learnt a thing or two 😉
BELOW : The 14&U Essendon-Geelong team - photo courtesy of Kate Simnett
14&U Boys - Report by Natalie Meissner
The Essendon/Monash/NYP boys played valiantly for 4 matches on Saturday. Despite intermittent showers of ice rain and only 8 players for the day, Jack, Angus and Ashton represented Essendon waterpolo with all their might. Without the usual larger bodies in the water, the team struggled to keep up on the scoreboard, however this didn’t mean that Jack didn’t throw some spectacular goals from half way down the pool a few times.
We finally had some success on Sunday morning when a few more boys from the usual Sunday Junior Comp team were able to make it down. The boys finished with a win, which was a nice end to the tournament, but sadly not enough to qualify for a placement or finals match.
Scores on Saturday were
0-10 loss Vs DVE Aquatic
4-22 loss Vs Wagga wagga
2-17 loss Vs Melbourne Collegians
Then on Sunday a 9-2 win over Northcote/Footscray.
BELOW : The 14&U Essendon-Monash-NYP Dragons team - photo courtesy of Troy Dsouza)
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