LUSL London vs ICSM 1s - 27/11/2022 (A)

BLWP 6 - 18 ICSM 1s

For LUSL London’s first match of the season, we made our way gently towards our second home at Ethos to play ICSM 1s. 

With a solid team of 12, energy was high and we were excited to get started!

Kicking off the first quarter, ICSM stole the ball in the swim off, holding on for about a minute, until tadpole Cole claimed possession and slammed it in the back of the net. What a start to the game, energy was high after being first to score in this match! Settling into the swing of things, tadpole Domi was strong in pit D, fending off some feisty ICSM players. tadpole Smaragda had great bursts of energy and showed stunning strength in driver position. tadpole Noah put up a great fight and stayed tight to his player, with a great effort in pit A. Tadpole Cole scored another fab goal, however ICSM snuck a few goals in for themselves, leaving a score of ICSM 4 - London 2.

In the second quarter we had tadpole Isabel showing some great confidence in her playing. She kept a tight press and fought for the ball. Marking a guy considerably larger did not phase her, and she demonstrated some fabulous defence work.

Tadpole Cole faced a wee brawl in pit, winning us a lovely penalty, which he seamlessly slammed into the net. Shortly after, we launched the ball towards a drowning tadpole Cole in pit, winning us another smooth penalty. 

Barney bear drew some award winning fouls in this quarter, giving us some time to get into space and keep possession of the ball. Great defence work from Barney, helping move the ball up the pool. 

Some of us unfortunately lost some speedy ICSM players, which bumped ICSM up a few more goals. The result of this quarter was ICSM 5 - London 2. 

Moving on from a pumped chat after half time, we entered the third quarter which felt like a lifetime. Tadpole Molly put in a fabulous shift, staying tight to her player and showing some great confidence in the game. Tadpole Chere had some beautiful speed up and down the pool, keeping tight to her player and also finding great space. After receiving a complaint from the opposition about her nails being too long (which were checked and completely fine…ICSM taking their chances hmm), this got Chere pumped for another round with ICSM.  

Miracle flow was an absolute wall in that goal. In this quarter, she was faced with a guy double her size taking a pen, who misjudged christina’s mighty defensive abilities. Luckily for us, the ball drew short of entering the goal, and so was snatched up by our excellent goalie. 

Having missed the smell of chlorine so much, Pontoon got right back into game, nearly drowning his player and at one point holding off two players at once.

At this point, tiredness was getting to us and some confusion on subs lead to ICSM scoring.

After some more rough and tumble in defence, ICSM managed to sneak a few more goals in, leading to score of 3-0 to ICSM in this quarter. 

We move into the last quarter of the match, after a team chat making sure everybody gave it their all for the last 10 minutes. Tadpole Brandon showed some great play and put up a tough fight for the ball, winning it and passing it up the pool. Tadpole Domi got hold of the ball and rapidly made his way up the pool, nearing the goal and smashing it into the net. With another few goals from ICSM, this did not phase Tadpole Smaragda who had a proper tussle with her player and won the ball. Playing dummy with the goalie, Tadpole Domi slammed another fab goal into the net. 

This was met with a few more goals from ICSM, finishing this quarter with ICSM 5 - London 2. 

Everyone put in an absolute shift and a half for this game, and some lovely water polo was played. Attitude and encouragement was top notch.

Player of the match goes to Domi for demonstrating great skills in defence and attack. 

Score: ICSM1s 18 - 6 London.

Goals:

Cole - 4

Domi - 2