Women vs Surrey - 28/11/2020+1 (A)

BLWP 13- 13 Surrey

Twas a chilly evening in Guildford when a warm front started rolling in from the north. 10 Barts ladies descended on the town ready for a battle in the pool. After a previous defeat against Surrey earlier in the season, we were eager to show all the improvements we had made, especially as we had our newly recruited Swedish international player, Tadpole Kiri in tow. After a quick shuttle to the pool, followed by a very lengthy warm up, the game began.

The first quarter started with a bang, fouls were called left, right and centre. This set the tone for the rest of the match which could be summed up with brutality, belligerency and bruises. The first goal was scored by Surrey, although this was quickly remedied when Surrey’s number 3 who had been sent out for a major, made no attempt to leave the pool leading to a penalty goal for the Barts ladies. Redhood then continued her tradition of the season and was the first Barts player to bang one into the back of the net. The Barts ladies weren’t afraid of showing that we weren’t going to be push overs with tight defending coming from all of the freshers, namely Tadpole Chere who after marking Helsinki in training had become accustomed to being a little more physical in the pool. Surrey scored right before the end of the quarter, resulting in a 2-2 score going into the break.

Next saw the second quarter, which saw some red faces as this was the first time playing stop clock this season. However, after a good rotation and our subs bench coming into play it led to us scoring another couple goals, with Redhood slotting another into the back on the net. This quarter was very physical leading to three majors for the Surrey team and a few knocks for Barts players. Tadpole Abi continued to rally, making a beautiful break down the wing and after outpacing her opponent majestically lobed the ball over the goalies head. Barts went into the half 6-4 up.

The third quarter saw another fresher score with Tadpole Smaragda using her amazing power to slam one past the goalie. With Surrey gaining the momentum Miracle-Flo stepped up and with cat like reflexes preventing many more shots from going in the back of the net. Helsinki had a stormer of a quarter showing great physicality and wrestling for the ball on multiple occasions (flashbacks to murder ball in training). Score at the end of the quarter was 8-8.

We went into the final quarter tired, but determined. The first goal of the quarter came from Redhood who snuck one past the goalie, a beautiful shot into the corner. Bodies started cramping, not surprising due to mahoosive width of the Surrey pool, leading to Redhood having to sub out with calf cramp. After a couple mins of Tadpole Abi’s ‘magical fingers’ Redhood was all better and ready to re-enter the fray. After another outstanding match without subbing Lil Sardine then scored a magnificent lob shot after wrestling the ball off her opposite number. Port-a-loo quickly scored after with a powerful goal into the back of the net, this was particularly incredible as her neck was injured earlier in the game leading to her looking at the goal with a slightly crooked perspective.

A special mention for the two enthusiastic Barts supporters/ taxi drivers who tried to combat the Surrey supporters football chants with ‘Shut up you potty mouths’. The final score was 13-13, a HUGE result for us, especially as we were away from home.

Player of the match- Lil Sardine for not only having a massive engine and not having to sub. But also scoring a fantastic goal with an amazing celebration.