Men’s Division 3. Melbourne University vs Bendigo at Maiden Gully 28/7/18
More luck with the weather on Saturday, as University arrived in sunshine at the Maiden Gully ground in a few carloads. Recent rain had the ground soft but not muddy, however, frost has left it mainly dead, with green tussocks. I mention that because I bounced a shot off one and it nearly stopped it, annoyingly; which brings me to the theme of the day: Bendigo played largely without luck on Saturday. I know that may sound like a sorry excuse, but the final score of 14 -1 looks like we got thumped, and I know we were probably not going to win, but with some luck going our way, we could easily had 4 or 5 more goals. Shots hit the ironwork of the goal, they hit the goalie, a shot hit grass tussock, a shot hit a Uni player helmet. Oh well. Some days are like that.
University had 12 players to start, while Bendigo are looking undermanned heading into the last stretch of the season, with Lester Young again helping us out by going into goals for Gino (reffing while seeing off an injury); Mark Reader risking knees and Mike Bell coming back from a bout of flu to make up numbers. We also (me especially!) were quite excited to welcome Angus Webb into the side for his first game of lacrosse, becoming the first of the third generation of Webbs to play the sport. After finally finding some shorts to play in, he made it 12 to start.
Anyhow, as I said before, the Warhawks played short of numbers and without luck, but the Uni side were faster, and generally more skillful than Bendigo. Bendigo did show discipline with holding the ball in attack and there were plenty of opportunities to score, but Uni were able to regularly convert through two key players to the tune of 5, then 3, then 4 and 2 in the last quarter to make it 14 for the day, while Bendigo couldn’t score until the last few minutes of the game when Mark Reader bullocked his way through the Uni defense and spoiled the Uni goalie’s hopes for a shut-out.
The young guys on the Bendigo team gave us hope for coming seasons: with Jordan O’Meara continuing to improve visibly each game, Tim Davis proving a menace in defense and Angus Webb putting in a very promising first game performance, with only his stick skills letting him down a few times, but footy smarts, fitness and aggression making him ready-made for lacrosse.
Votes went to Alex Orr (3 club and 2 Association) for another big but heartbreaking day without reward; Brett Ruiz was given 2 club votes, for another solid show in the centre and great work in attack (I’m still seeing in my mind, the stupid pass I sent that well wide of him and over the boundary, after we’d set up properly for a fast break and should have resulted in an easy goal. Sorry Brett), and Tim Davis was given a club vote for another great game in defense, keeping up with the quick players and making life hard for them.
Thanks to Helen Leclercq for scoring for us.
Next week we take on Altona at Bendigo, which should be a very winnable game, but we need everyone who can play to play. The season finishes in a month, and there’ll be time enough then for leisurely weekends off, so let’s get to training on Thursday and see out 2018 with a few wins.
Around the grounds:
Will Kenny was still out with injury for Brunswick U17s, but in Brunswick U13s, Matt Saxon scored a slick left handed goal off a Christian Iuliano assist (they’re quite a combo) in a 13-3 loss to Surrey Park and in U15s, Gino reckons they both played very really well in a tough game losing 21-3 to Surrey Park.
In the Women’s Division 1 the MCC/Bendigo women went down 18-5 to a strong Williamstown side. Jessica Iuliano got her first goal in senior lacrosse. Well done!
John Webb, senior player.
Last Modified on 30/07/2018 14:40