Lacrosse Report:
Men’s Division 3 Chadstone v Bendigo at Chadstone. 21/7/18
It was a chilly, overcast afternoon last Saturday for the long haul to Chadstone from Bendigo. We arrived to a carnival atmosphere, as the Chadstone club had a family day going with a women’s Division 1 game and a men’s Division 2 game already in progress and the men’s Division 3 and 1 games to come. The pleasant smell of a busy barbeque filled the air and car parking was well out into the street.
The Warhawks have been decimated by injury and illness of late, and in the morning, Gino madly texted players and anxiously assessed our ability to field a team, but fortunately there were just enough players to hold off on the dreaded walk-over declaration, with Lester Young again standing in for Gino as goalie, and Gino taking on the reffing for the week. We also welcomed Paul Iuliano into the side (Gino is evidently starting to put the hard word on family members to dig out their gear and play for us) and it was with great relief that we watched his slick handling of a stick as he warmed up and knocked out the cobwebs. So the Warhawks lined up with 11 players, while Chadstone got underway with 12.
The first quarter looked very promising for Bendigo, with the lack of subs making it critical that they hold the ball in attack for as long as possible. I think it might have been the best discipline they’ve shown all season with doing this and the ball worked around nicely and the defence was tested until a chance to score became evident. I should note here, that with numbers short, Dylan LeClerq is really rising to the challenge of being part of the forward structure and his stick work is much improved. Bendigo were able to score twice, with Ian Lock drawing a defender on the left and allowing John Webb to sneak around from behind, take a pass and slot one past the goalie. Later in the term, another attempt finished up with a ball on the deck that Russ Crofts pounced on and turned into a successful short on goal. Chadstone were held to one goal for the quarter and we went to drinks up 2-1.
The second term saw the Bendigo centres win often, but Alex Orr’s absence was keenly felt and many chances to take the ball off the face-off were missed. However, the Warhawks had plenty of possession and opportunities to score, but it became evident that the Chadstone goalie was going to be hard to beat and Bendigo could only score once for the quarter, with Paul Iuliano beating a couple of defenders and ripping in a good shot. Chadstone were also only able to beat Lester once, and the score was 3-2 going to half time.
The third was a struggle with Bendigo feeling the frustration of slow scoring and beginning to lapse back into rushing in the forward line without being organised. The Warhawks had many tries, but the goalie made easy work of long shots and turnovers made the game end-to-end and tiring. A long penalty to a Chadstone player should have meant a great opportunity for the Warhawks to score, but instead, Chadstone were able to hold the ball in attack for a maddening long period, with tired Bendigo legs unable to keep up with the ball as it moved around in a game of “keepings-off”. Both teams failed to trouble the scorer in the term and going into the last quarter the game was there for the taking at 3-2, Warhawks way.
The final quarter was a grind, with both teams worn out from hard running, without the benefit of well-stocked benches and Bendigo’s best attempts to get past the Chaddy goalie were repelled and they were unable to finish off the game, while Chadstone scored a late goal to put it at three all and now with overtime to play.
The first end of overtime was without score, though again, the Warhawks had the best of the attack opportunities, and it was in the second period that a Chadstone player had a speculative shot that Lester had covered until it caught the edge of a defender stick and dribbled horribly slowly into the goal, giving Chaddy the win: 4-3.
Bad luck lads, we nearly made the best of some tough conditions, and despite the loss, it was a thoroughly enjoyable game against a legitimate division 3 side.
Well done to Jordan O’Meara for his first crack at using a long stick and standing in for missing defenders and thanks again to Lester Young for putting himself in harm’s way in goals. Votes were given to Tim Davis (3 Club votes and 2 Association) for keeping the Chaddy attack out of range and nicking the ball off them often; Paul Iuliano attracted the eye of the refs (I guess having a relative on the reffing staff might also help) with 2 club votes and 1 Association vote, by adding significantly to our firepower up front and giving us more legs and fight in the midfield (thanks Paul, hope to see you again soon!); and Brett Ruiz was given a club vote for his usual reliability in the centre and cool head in attack (poor Brett; he fed me the assist that should have won the game, but the shot didn’t go in). That brings me to the last mention of votes which is that the Chaddy goalie got 3 Association votes and 3 club votes – curse him.
Oh well, back to training and running and flu recovery see what we can do about Melbourne Uni at home next week.
Around the grounds:
Will Kenny is out injured at the moment, so no report in U17s.
In Brunswick U13s, Christian Iuliano got the only goal, from a Matt Saxon assist, in a 15-1 loss to Williamstown, and in U15s, Williamstown also handed Brunswick a belting 13-1, but Gino tells me that Matt and Christian both had great games despite playing above their age group.
In Women’s Division 1, MCC/Bendigo fought off a comeback to beat a plucky but understaffed Footscray team 9-7 at Footscray on Sunday. All of the Bendigo girls who went down got a game this week. Well done, and at this stage, it looks like they’re going to be playing finals this year: fourth on the ladder and a couple games clear of fifth.
John Webb, Senior player.
Last Modified on 23/07/2018 09:13