Women vs Southampton - 01/12/2019

BLWP 10 - 8 Southampton

​It was a cold Sunday eve, with 2nd year ICAs and SJTs pending, we got a team of 12 dedicated strong women down to York Hall to take on Southampton. The Southampton team were struggling with traffic so we got hyped waiting for them, our enthusiastic supporters Sian, Nada and Jono’s mum helped us feel ready for the game!

Within 5 minutes of arriving, Southampton were lined up and ready to go. The first swim off was no match for Emma as she stole the ball and set the tone for the rest of the match. We took that ball smoothly to the goal and Ania scored our first goal. BAM, within a minute we had the hunger and the belief that we could take this match. When Southampton started with the ball we didn’t let them have an inch of room and put some real pressure on, with a great steal from Ania and communication between the girls the arc was set up and clean once again. From the arc came a smooth pass to Leah in pit, Southampton tried to defend but it was no match for our resident pit-beast and second goal was scored. Southampton fought back and slipped away from us on the counter, scoring a goal of their own. This was shortly followed a strong retaliation from Barts, we couldn’t let Southampton think they could score that easy… BOOM - Emma on the wing set up a beauty from the wing, taking it in through the arc and straight to Leah for another goal!
We felt confident, we were playing well, and maybe got a little too relaxed allowing their number 2 to get away from us and score 2 consecutive goals. The score now was 3-3 at the end of the first quarter. We knew at this point that if we made it hard for them like in the start of the game we could win this, we had the fire in our bellies.

Second quarter started just as strong as the first with Emma our rocket on the wing smashing the swim off, Annie supported her well and swam the ball up the field leaving her defender behind “Bye Southampton – nice try”… With a clean pass into Ania who was ready and waiting for the ball, a fourth Barts’ goal was scored!
The game became very scrappy and there was some costume tugging was coming into play, Sophia played a stonking game and showed us some incredible saves! Now that’s a girl who’s been showing the goal who’s boss since 2k14! Southampton were persistent and matched our score by getting another goal with a man up.
At this point in the game the ball was being turned over every few seconds, it was hard to keep fluidity of the game or tell who had the ball or what was really happening at all. This frustration clearly fueled the Berry who grabbed the ball from Southampton and walked the ball in, shooting from the wing, what a goal!
Neck and neck with Southampton, we were still determined to attack. Ania was great at getting into spaces at the perfect time and snatched another goal! Shantay, you stay!

The second quarter finished again a draw, 6-6.
The girls were getting tired, everyone was putting in max effort, we switched up our players to give some us fresh legs. Oh my oh my, we were ready for them. Charis was extra feisty on the wing, and Ava swam up the middle of the pool taking the ball into 5 metres and taking a great shot at goal. The goal wasn’t allowed and Southampton countered hard – but its ok because Leah was on her player ready. Her player got the ball and had a clear goal, at this point Leah decided to literally dunk her player under the water shouting “get down” – so subtle… Incredibly this wasn’t a foul? Soph had the ball ready to throw down the pool but somehow we ended up in a straight line; where was the arc? It’s ok though, Lizzie sprung out of the line and Soph played a strong pass all the way to the opposite 5 meter line. Leah swam up the field to meet the girls and took a pass on her way into pit and taking a shot before they knew she was even there. We were now ahead of Southampton again with a score of 7-6.
Next play, we found the arc again, and Annie made a beautiful drive across the middle taking the ball and shooting but wasn’t quite past the line. The Southampton team took the ball but taken back on a lax pass, our play from there was textbook and resulted in another goal from Leah in pit. The third quarter was over with a score of 8-6 to Barts’.

Fourth quarter started strong once again with Emma winning the swim off, we had the ball and were passing well but the ball was turned over to Southampton. Imy slapped the ball from Southampton’s hands and swam off receiving the ball on the swim back – scoring our 9th goal.
Southampton started with their ball some overly defensive play from Barts resulted in a man down for us and Southampton scored.
We were having none of it, Joanna shook off her defender and made space for Ania once again to take the ball in towards the goal and take her 4th goal of the evening. We were now 10-7 up. With 2 minutes left Southampton fought hard to get another goal past us but by this point all we had to do was defend to the end which is what we did. Nothing else was getting past us. The win was ours, an incredible game where everyone played to the max! Celebrations will be had at Christmas Dinner next weekend!

The final score was Barts 10: 8 Southampton.

Goals:
Ania Wozniak: 4
Leah Bekedam: 4
Emma Berry: 1
Imy de Trafford: 1