Men’s Division 3, Camberwell v MCC/Bendigo at Eric Raven Res 15 May 2021
On Thursday the club received bad news that our bus will be out of action for 6 weeks after breaking down in Elmore. We need to wait for the critical car part to arrive from France. However, our President Lester Young and our official scorer and emergency player Ian Lock agreed to carpool. Thank you, guys! On the positive side we only need to pool for another two Melbourne games as we have a Bendigo game and a couple of holidays/byes during this time.
After Thursday night the team was named and published on the MCC Team App. We had 10 MCC and 8 Bendigo players. However, Mike Bell was fifty fifty as he jarred his back at Thursday night training. The only player unavailable was Tim Davis due to work commitments. The manager thought that he didn’t need to bring the goalie gear with the player numbers we had, but he did bring the long pole as Timmy was away and thought he might get a run as a defender.
Heading out to the U17’s match at Eltham, it was very cold and wet. The day started ominously with early morning showers, melting hail landing softly on car’s windscreens. However, the sun did break through by 1pm and there was no hint of rain in the horizon.
Mike Bell didn’t get over his jarred back so didn’t travel down to Melbourne with the boys. At midday we lost two players to MCC Div 1 as they had a few players withdraw, Space Vaughan Comley (defender) and Frank Eckhof (our goalie). Furthermore, four MCC Div 3 players didn’t show for today’s match, so we were down to 10 players from 18.
The club Ref, Lester Young, was not required to officiate as there were two Lacrosse Victoria Officials assigned to the match. That meant Lester could score while Ian Lock could player his first game for the season. Manager, Gino Iuliano, was required to goal keep, also his first full game for the season, which meant Adam (coach) had no manager. That meant the Team had two on the bench. The question remains, does the coach really need a manager, especially Gino? Camberwell had 17 players, which included a couple of Div 1 players being dropped as they had byes to their State League and Div 1 teams.
I learnt later MCC Div 1 were down to 10 players but reached 15 by topping up with a couple of Div 3 players and U17 players. They had 5 U17 players showing their wears against Willy but went down 15 to 2. Not a bad effort for a very inexperience team.
The Div 3 match started in glorious sunshine!
The first quarter was sketchy, as the teams were finding their feet. There were missed directed passes, dropped catches, and missed goals by both teams. However, the Team played better and steadier lacrosse then Camberwell, which showed on the scoresheet. The quarter was evenly matched, although the Team took their opportunities in front of goal by hitting the back of the nett three times to Camberwell’s one goal. Two early goal shots for 2 goals from Alex and Barry, both excellent shots, gave the team a great lift, considering the numbers of subs that Camberwell had. Barry Nugent (Nuggie) scored twice, once with a solo effort and another by an assist from Alex Orr. Alex also scored a very good individual goal, coming from the behind the cage.
The Team’s defence was shaky as it was a completely new line-up. Jordan O’Meara (most experienced in D this season and his second in defence), Jarrod Topp-Lowe (in previous games usually comes off the bench as a long pole D), Lemon (Ron Lowe) who usually plays anywhere with a short pole (first time in D this season) and Gino in goals. Having said this, they grow in confidence in each other with every passing minute. Jarrod, Gino, and Lemon took their opportunities to shine and Jordan grew as the defensive captain, while playing on the most dangerous Camberwell attackman.
As the match entered the second quarter, our centre players, Rusty (first game of the season) and Pat Guan grew in composure at the face-off. This resulted in regularly winning possession by our Middies: Matt Saxon, Alex Orr, Tim Anastasi, and Dylan Le Clercq.
The MCCBendigo scored 3 goals to Camberwell’s 2, resulting in a half time score of 6 to 3. Matt Saxon scored a brilliant individual goal by dodging three players and slotting it home. Alex Orr scored another goal with the assist from Dylan Le Clercq. Nuggie, at the goal line, popped another past the Camberwell goalie. The goals from Camberwell were speculation long shots, which unfortunately Gino didn’t cover, one between his legs and another top left corner.
The Team was getting tired and Camberwell had a sniff. Comments were heard from Camberwell’s senior experience players during half time, hyping up their chances in coming over the top of MCCBendigo in the second half of the match.
The third quarter seemed to follow that narrative with the first two goals going to Camberwell with 15 minutes left on the clock. The centres stepped up and MCCBendigo turned the tide by winning the face-offs while our middies/attackers consumed time and exhibited patience. They were rewarded with three unanswered goals to extend the lead, but Camberwell scored their third just before the break. The Team lead Camberwell 9 goals to 6. Alex Orr scored all three goals; he was red hot in front of the cage!
The final term was a nail-biting affair. The Team was tiring, but wise heads prevailed by ensuring we retained the ball and only attacked if there was a high chance of scoring. MCCBendigo traded goals with Camberwell before MCCBendigo scored two unanswered goals. A time out was call at the 10-minute mark with MCCBendigo up by 4 goals. The score line didn’t reflect the constant pressure Camberwell exserted on MCCBendigo’ s D. Most of the time the ball seemed to be in the Camberwell attack half, however at rare moments MCCbendigo ran into their attack and scored. The final six minutes MCCbendigo was really slowing the play down and with 2 minutes to go Camberwell scored their second goal for the term. The game ended with MCCBendigo winning 12 goals to 8. Alex scored 2, and Nuggie added another one to his tally in the final quarter.
As mentioned in last week’s report, we are here to have fun, learn and improve our lacrosse skills. I believe this week we have done exactly what the coach wanted. Let’s keep going in that vain.
I learnt later MCC Div 1 were down to 10 players but reached 15 by topping up with a couple of Div 3 players and U17 players. They had 5 U17 players showing their wears against Willy but went down 15 to 2. Not a bad effort for a very inexperience team.
Goals and Votes:
Scorers: 7 A Orr, 4 B Nugent, 1 M Saxon
Assists: 2 A Orr, 1 D Le Clercq
Votes: A Orr, G Iuliano, B Nugent
Associations Votes: 3 A Orr, 2 G Iuliano
Our next game is against Altona at home (Maiden Gully Rec Res), please spread the word and bring as many of your friends and family to the match which starts 2.30pm. Please be there by 1.00pm to assist with setting up the ground.
Scribe
Gino Iuliano
Last Modified on 19/05/2021 14:26