Women vs Southampton - 24/10/2020+1 (H)
BLWP 7 - 9 Southampton
On a ‘sunny’ Sunday afternoon in Poplar, 9 lovely ladies from BLWP faced Southampton. After the majority had been out the previous night these ladies were determined to swim through the fog of their hangovers and represent the finest water polo team in the land. Many of the men made it down to show their support and although we may have been down 4 players the crowed certainly made up for the deficit.
The first swim off saw Tadpole Abi pace it up the wing and fling the ball back to the Barts ladies. After a strong attack we quickly scored with a strong shot from Port-a-Loo. The rest of the quarter saw amazing attacking play from the Barts team with goals coming from left, right and centre. Port-a-Loo thumped in another from pit and Red Hood also added to her massive tally from the season by sticking two in the back of the net. The final goal of the quarter came from Tadpole Chere who made a break down the wing and dummied the keeper, a beautiful goal from the newcomer, which led to the crowed going wild. The score at the end of the quarter was 5-1.
The second quarter saw the Southampton team change around their players which slowed the rate of goals scored. Red Hood however managed to still smash one into the net. Tadpole Smaragda managed to wrestle the ball off her opposite number which led to a massive attack from the Barts Women, however this didn’t lead to a goal as the ball went wide. The determination of this tadpole was so admirable, with many goal scoring opportunities created. Despite missing a few attempts we still had a massive lead and went into half time 6-3 up.
The third quarter started well with the swim off being won by Barts, although a few missed passes led to Southampton scoring a cracker of a goal. Exhaustion starting setting in for both teams, nevertheless Lil Sardine again rose to the occasion and when everyone was starting to fatigue she managed to score a beauty of a lob over the goalkeepers head. Tadpole Venaya did a stunning job keeping the width on the sides and despite still being struck down by freshers flu kept on her opponent like glue, we can’t wait to see what this fresher does when she gets back to full fitness. The end of the quarter saw Barts with in the lead 7-5.
We went into the fourth quarter with strong minds but weakened bodies. Red hood after suffering a fingernail injury last week sustained a potential broken thumb this week, when will her poor hands stop being beaten up. The lead we had slowly drifted away from us, although this was not from a lack of trying. Miracle-Flo did a stunning save which for someone with limited experience was actually mind blowing. The final score was 7-9 with Southampton just edging us. The 4 man deficit ultimately was our undoing. However the whole team put in such an effort and the improvement from last week was outstanding. Every player did such an amazing job and we have a lot we can build on for the next game. Well done girlies
Goals:
Ania = 3
Chloe = 2
Chere = 1
Annie = 1
Player of the Match:
Red Hood (Ania)- for three amazing goals and playing on despite a dodgy thumb
