01/12/2023 - LUSL London vs King’s (A)
At 10am, 15 of the finest LUSL London players were all set to go. The time was suddenly 19:10 and after bouts of illness, Adam sunbathing in Lisbon in December (??), Cole claiming cramps 20 mins before kick-off but still managing to bounce around at the DJ event he went to instead and Dimitrios opting for a trip to the pub to “help his shoulder”, we ended up with a solid team of 9. Now this usually wouldn’t be an issue but facing a full team of Kings prem players (both their women and men are in the prem), caused me to reincarnate as Liam and prang HARD (cortisol levels 100mcg/dl all day). Thankfully, at the last second, Vlas and Martha G came to save the day.
The whistle blew and 14 seconds later the ball was in the back of the net (our net btw). Brandon was practically on the floor because he was laughing so much at the fact it took Kings 14 seconds to score. Within the space of 45 seconds, Kings were 3 - 0 up; ngl I was scared. If this trend continued, by the end of the four quarters, the score would be 128 - 0. Our starting 7 quickly settled into routine and started causing maximum disruption for the Kings team who probably initially thought that this was going to be an easy match. It was a goal-less quarter for The London but the way we were defending was stopping Kings in their tracks and made me almost tear up.
The second quarter was where our first goal came, a corker of a goal from Abi, who effortlessly drove into pit and was set up with a delightful pass. The rest of this quarter we made sure to stick tight to our players, perfectly executed by Phil who did not let his player out of his sight. Brandon also put in a massive shift as pit defence, only getting shouted at once by Harry for almost giving the ball away. Rory then also showed off his excellent water polo knowledge with some perfectly placed passes that mediated brilliant play.
Half time, two quarters left, the energy was ELECTRIC at this point. Annie prevented at least 5 goals with her beautiful defence work even after not subbing out at all. Martha was giving everything on the wing and as driver, creating space and defending men twice her size with pure ease. Tom found himself in pit and had a proper go at some tough water polo drowning. Vlas, our saviour, came and scored a powerful goal right when we needed it. The power that man has – speechless.
One quarter left and we all partook in some brief meditation (a joint inhale and exhale), to prepare us for the next eight minutes of battle. Abi won the swim off - IMMENSE, literally Abichael Phelps. Harry got caught up in a ruckus with one of the Kings players who thought it was a good time to start playing a game of tag and chase Harry around. This didn’t stop Harry from making some impeccable saves though and demonstrate what an amazing goalie he is!!! He defo deserves a special mention for the way he played!!! Patrick then gave us the opportunity to show off our skills by sending out one of the Kings guys, so we prepared for man up. I have never seen such a perfect 4-2 set up in my life. It was like a simulation the way we orchestrated this formation. I am still so gassed thinking about it, it was genuinely like a drill from training. Smaragda banged a beautiful ball into the top left corner from 5 metres out, right past the goalie and about 7 arms in the air. SENSATIONAL. The last 20 seconds were so chaotic, but Vlas took a penalty, it was saved, he tried again, failed. End of story, end of the match.
No one knew what the score was but it didn’t matter, we had all survived a Kings match!!!!! We were even complimented on our “team spirit” for our post-match huddle compared to the Kings team who dispersed immediately and went back to training, I guess that’s what you do when you’re a professional?
Anyway, 14 - 3 (to Kings). INCREDIBLE. EXQUISITE. OUTSTANDING. TRANSCENDENT. And with that, I have now run out of words, so see you after Christmas for some more LUSL London action.
Yours truly,
Izzy xxx
Player of the match - Phil for being an absolute driving machine.
Also, special mention to everyone who played and came to watch, it was such an enjoyable match and you all worked so incredibly hard (+ Abi and Annie for playing the ENTIRE match; stamina = unmatched).
Goals:
Abi (1)
Vlas (1)
Smaragda (1)
