Men vs UCL - 02/12/2018

BLWP 13 - 17 UCL

For the last time this year, we come up against UCL. A team which has recently been demoted from the Prem League, and one that takes pleasure in bullying other teams in our league. Well, we just can’t have that.

Right off the bat we showed them that we were not the kind of team they could walk over. We really wanted to win, and that showed in the first quarter. They were headless chickens in distress and they gave no answers to our beautiful attack and lock-down defense. We were in their face, challenging their shots. We ended the first quarter on a huge win: 5-3.

As fate would have it, our pit-defense got over-excited and by the end of the first quarter had collected 2 major fouls. Proud of his early achievement, Renos had to either stay out of the pool, or play elsewhere, otherwise risking exclusion. The second quarter brought with it great team work, as Jono and Marco took it in turns marking what seemed to be an overweight wrestler, and Renos tried to figure out what to do with himself outside pit-D. Marco’s shot from five meters was still left unanswered and unchallenged, collecting a total of 6 goals by the end of the second quarter, forming the major focus of our attack. This, however, was not enough to meet the attacking efforts of UCL, who came out of their shells. The aforementioned headless chickens now had direction, and started swimming furiously, leading to 2-on-1 situations a few too many times. Halftime ended on a still-within-reach loss: 9-10.

We came together as a team during halftime and called an end to the nonsense. Everyone was to not leave their man unattended even for a second, even for a slight peek at the goal. Team-hyping worked and we only let 2 in during the third quarter. They clearly heard our team speech and they formed a similar strategy, leading to quite the inconsequential third quarter result: 11-12.

Then fourth quarter came. In case you are new to our club or to these reports, allow me to point out a trend; if we lose in a match, we lose in the fourth quarter. Our lungs deteriorate faster than your nan’s cystocele. Our stamina resembles that of a 60-year-old coal miner with a 40 pack-year history. The fourth quarter brought our demise. Having said that, even when we are tired, as a testament to our drive to win, we keep fighting in pit. The whole team took turn wrestling with Wrestlemania in pit, collecting an impressive total of 7 major fouls. We unfortunately lost the game with a final score of 13-17.

Overall it was a great game for us. We had a few moments of pure genius and great teamwork, and we found weaknesses to work on. See you next year, UCL!

Special S/O to our goalkeeper for an amazing buzzer-beater – never have I ever seen UCL concede a goal from the other end of the pool.

Goals
M. Coronelli: 6
R. Jeropoulos: 4
J. Amoah: 2
L. Holdsworth: 1