With our junior games suspended over the long weekend, and the WSL3 team having a bye, there were only 2 games on offer for our members this week. So I’ve included those match reports below, instead of creating the usual glossy wrap (yes I know – call me SLACK!) A special THANK YOU to Andrew and Nancy Cover, who once again spearheaded our Bunnings Fundraiser over the long weekend, coordinating supplies and people. Thankyou also to Bell’s Pure Ice for their support. Well done to all those who assisted on the day, we managed to raise over $1800 profit for the club. Senior teams have just one game remaining before finals, whilst our junior teams will have two more rounds. Training resumes as per usual on Monday. So here’s all the action from the pool this week :
WSL1 – Report by Torben Fink-Jensen Essendon were missing 3 of their big names with Alex, Lisa and Phoebe out. We had a full list of juniors to make up for it. Richmond were quick on attack as usual and we took a few minutes to adjust to the pace as they went 0-2 up. Then Olivia took a shot which slipped through the hands of their goalie to get us on the board. Richmond continued to take their chances without Katie having much opportunity to show her skills as Richmond had a number of free shots to finish at 1-6. The story in the 2nd quarter was pretty similar with Richmond using their superior swimming skills to drive aggressively as soon as they had the ball in their team’s possession. Essendon had a couple of good opportunities with kickouts and a penalty but weren’t able to convert. Katie made a couple of superb saves to keep the score down but it was 1-12 at the end of the half. Our girls were more aggressive in the 3rd quarter and the scorecard benefited as they stymied a number of attacks, with Lara being strong on defence. Essendon also found themselves in a unique position, being 2 on 1 in attack and Mietta timed her pass to Claudia perfectly for Claudia to slot one home giving us 2-17. Essendon were feeling the pinch in the 4th quarter as the Richmond breaks became quicker and more intense. Katie again managed to stop a couple of goals and there was some good defence on occasion but the breaks were too often to stop the score mounting up but we managed one more goal before the whistle, as Sarah found the net. Essendon were defeated by Richmond 3 – 24 Goals : Olivia 1, Claudia 1, Sarah 1 MSL5 – Report by Daniel Gilbertson The SL5 team took on Melbourne Uni under a balmy Melbourne sunset with the confidence of a full strength bench and eagerness to consolidate our dominant performance from last week. We started the game strongly earning a scoring opportunity within the first 20 seconds of the game, and although it wasn’t successful it set the tone for our endeavour for the game. Pleasingly from the outset of the game our structure and awareness of pool balance and positions both in attack and defence carried throughout the first quarter, enabling us to jump ahead at the first break thanks to solid goal keeping and strong swimming into attack. Not wanting to rest on our momentum we continued our dominance in the second quarter enabled through regular rotations through the bench who were eager to get in amongst the action and goal scoring opportunities. Our strong press defence, and at time fronting of their centre-forward shut down their passing options resulting in hesitation and turnovers which we took advantage of to extend our lead to 5 goals at the main break. The second half mirrored the first half of the game and encouragingly as we look to the imminent finals series our pressure and swimming depth were maintained through to the final buzzer, with only a couple of moments where Melbourne Uni were able to slip in behind our defence and score. Once again a strong performance all round, and special call out to Josh and Nate who have added consistency to our weekly line up and a depth of capability that has complemented the rest of the team. Essendon defeated Melb Uni : 13 – 3 Goals : Vince 4, Josh 4, MattL 3, Luke 1, Hayden 1
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