I’m starting with the women’s game, because they had something to celebrate…
Last Sunday afternoon, on the 24/6/18, in the bright winter sunshine at Maiden Gully, a Bendigo women’s team took the field for the first time at home in Bendigo. The MCC and Bendigo clubs have combined this year to form a team playing in Division 1. So far they are doing extremely well, being fourth on the ladder, in a division of 12, with 5 wins and one loss so far. On Sunday, they played Melbourne University and were down at half time 8-10 and came back to win 15-13 in a thriller. Abbie Saxon scored her first goal in lacrosse on the day. Congratulations!
Gino tells me that there were plenty of people to watch and that he was well supported in set-up and running of the day by Ian Lock and Paula Saxon as well as many others.
Well done, and here’s to the beginning of an era of women’s lacrosse in the sticks.
Our junior boys did very well this weekend as well:
Will Kenny dominated for Brunswick in the U17s, with 5 goals and 2 assists in an 8-all draw with Camberwell/Chadstone. Great effort, Will, and we could have used you on Saturday…
In the U13s, Brunswick defeated Melbourne Uni 15-7, with Christian Iuliano contributing 6 goals and 3 assists and Matt Saxon notching up 4 goals and an assist.
Then in U15s, Brunswick defeated an under-staffed Melbourne Uni team 17-5, with Matt Saxon scoring 1 goal and Christian Iuliano scoring a goal each for Uni and Brunswick (players were rotated into Uni to help them with numbers).
Well done lads, and we look forward to you hitting the senior ranks as well.
To the men’s game:
Division 3, Bendigo vs Surrey Park at Maiden Gully. 23/6/18
I can’t speak for anyone else in the team, but for my own part, I made the mistake of thinking we were going to have an easy time of it on Saturday. Driving up the Calder Freeway I assumed, after a few tough weeks against top teams, that I could finally enjoy a confidence-building, goal-tally-boosting day up forward. The Surrey Park club had games to play in all divisions (no byes), so there wouldn’t be too much in the way of players coming down from higher divisions. Playing the supposedly weakest side in the comp, we even decided to give our new boy, Charlie Wardrop his first game (and congratulations, Charlie, you did really well and showed a lot of promise!). I arrived at the ground and Surrey Park had a bare 10 players to start, while the Warhawks had 14 players. Nice sunny weather; home ground in good order; a decent bench-load of players: Everything was going our way, for once.
I did my stretches and walking by, Gino mentioned in passing that the Surrey Park Division 2 had actually played the night before. Hmmmm. I watched the Surrey blokes warming up, and their stick work was actually pretty good. But I wasn’t overly concerned; they were still low on numbers. Nothing to worry about …
So the game started and Surrey Park looked quite controlled in their forward line, with good ball movement, and very early in the first quarter, they got the first goal. Bendigo had possession out of the centre draw but the movement into the forward line was rushed and rarely got a chance to be set up for an organised attack before a shot was taken. This approach worked twice in the quarter, and the Warhawks scored once through Ian Lock, from a good assist from Alex Orr and again with a goal by Alex Orr. However, there was an element of panic about stick work and clearing out of defence was particularly patchy, whereas Surrey Park often linked up with quick passes from goalie to defender, to breaking middy or leading forward. Surrey Park scored again and we went to quarter time on two all. The Warhawks found themselves unexpectedly seriously challenged.
The second quarter saw Bendigo without answers, as Surrey Park stepped up their play, slotting three, while the Warhawks were unable to react effectively, despite some reasonable attempts to score and heads were shaking as we went to half time down 5-2.
In an attempt to settle things down, Gino Iuliano swapped into goal to bring back his experience and to give Jarrod Topp-Lowe a chance in the backline with fresh legs. There was a third quarter Bendigo resurgence and they were able to score three goals: two by Alex Orr, one of which was assisted by John Webb and another by Mike Bell who cut from the front of goal, taking a pass and beating the goalie. The Surrey Park team found themselves limited to one goal and the game was now close on 6-5 with Bendigo hoping to overtake in the last, especially with superior numbers on the bench to carry them home.
However, it wasn’t to be, and Surrey Park found a gear, with Bendigo uncharacteristically flat and unable to do much about it. Disheartened, crabby and disappointed they couldn’t add to their score, while Surrey Park built their lead by five to run out winners, 11 to 5. Their first win for the year.
Votes were awarded to Alex Orr (3 club votes) who gave it everything all day; Tim Davis caught the eye of the refs with (a little irregularly) 2 club votes and 2 Association votes for his usual energetic effort in defence. Mason Matheson got a single club vote for great work on the midfield.
Congratulations again to Charlie Wardrop for a great effort in his first game, where the team unexpectedly struggled.
Thanks to Tracey O’Meara for scoring for us and Lester Young for reffing.
This one got away from us; pure and simple. I didn’t look forward to writing the report much and found it difficult to talk up our performance. However some games are like that and you’re left with a long drive home; reliving every dropped pass and every missed shot, muttering “dammit” to yourself. But we’ll find a way back; we always do. We need to put that Surrey game behind us quickly. Next week is a tough one against Malvern at Malvern. For my own part, in preparation I shall be spending some time in front of the practice wall at the local school, to get the wooden top hand to relax again.
John Webb
Senior player.
PS – DON’T FORGET THE THE GAME AT MALVERN THIS WEEK IS AT 1 PM.
Last Modified on 27/06/2018 10:54