Lacrosse Report:
Division 3 Men’s; Bendigo vs Surrey Park at Maiden Gully; 1/6/19
Another beautiful, sunny winter’s day was bestowed upon Bendigo last Saturday afternoon. Warhawks arrived feeling quietly confident after two wins in two weeks. A single lonely Surrey Park player was the only away-team arrival at 1:30 and we began our usual anxious wait for opposition teams. However, a couple of car load of juniors turned up just before start time and Surrey were able to take the field with a bare ten, while the Warhawks had twelve.
This week, we were again missing midfield key players in Tim Davis, Mason Matheson and Matt Saxon, however, with Brett Ruiz back in the side, the face-offs were largely dominated by Bendigo and early midfield possession was predominantly with the Warkhawks. Bendigo tended to be more aggressive in attack and while they held the ball in their forward line for roughly the same time as Surrey did, they were much more dangerous. Surrey Park had a young forward set-up and like the last two teams we’ve played, tended to play very wide and moved the ball tentatively around the Bendigo defense with few shots on goal and only one long shot went in, after it glanced off a Warhawk leg to lodge in the top corner.
Bendigo got another good start and were able to score very early with a goal from Brett, who noticed a corridor to goal open up, as Warhawks cut from the left of goal, and he drove in and shot with result. Alex Orr also beat the defense twice to chalk up two goals and John Webb drifted into the crease and Mark Reader popped a nice pass into his stick and Webb shot true, giving the Warhawks a nice first quarter lead of 4-1.
The second quarter saw the Surrey goalie get his eye in and the Bendigo scoring rate slowed. Therefore, the Warhawks played with a little impatience and despite many shots on goal from many players, troubled the scorer only twice. The two goals were identical and within minutes, with Mark Reader storming into attack and drawing defenders, then passing to Ian Lock, perched as ever, low on the crease, who calmly picked his spot and scored. Surrey Park had plenty of possession, but were unable to penetrate the Warhawk backline and were kept scoreless for the quarter, giving Bendigo the half-time ascendency 6-1.
The third was another shut-out to the Bendigo backline, with Warhawks putting pressure on the tired Surrey attackers and keeping the ball in dispute for much of the time. From a nice pass from Russ Crofts, John Webb was able to slot a ball between the goal ironwork and the goalie’s hip (Ow!) to give Bendigo another, but scoring dried up for Bendigo from then on. We stopped for last drinks with the score on 7-1.
In the fourth, Bendigo continued their assault on goal, but tiredness and some frustrating skill errors [sorry about that – Webby] led to fewer opportunities and the Warhawks were held scoreless in the last term. Surrey Park, however, managed to win the quarter with a single goal, but Bendigo were the winners 7-2.
Well done all! Our third win in a row and we currently sit fourth on the ladder! Dare we dream of a finals berth? I think we should.
Votes for the game went to Alex Orr (3 Association and 3 club) for another dominant display, while Mark Reader was given two club votes and one Association vote for keeping the defense watertight, while also giving the Warhawks a spearhead going into attack. Jordan O’Meara also caught the refs’ eyes with a single club vote for a fantastic day in the backline, where he’s carving out something of a reputation as a formidable defender. Well done!
We get a break next weekend for the Queen’s birthday, and then take on Caulfield the following week and a genuine chance to make it four in the trot. Onwards and upwards!
John Webb, Senior player.
And from Gino …
U15 Boys MCC 16 def Footscray 2
Matthew Saxon 3 goals 2 assists and won the majority of centres faced.
Christian Iuliano 5 goals 1 assist (there were more but not recorded)
This was a great team effort from the boys, who had a bench of three players of which 2 were U13 players, against a team of 15 Footscray players. MCC players also doing well were Tim (Defender), Jack (attack/midfielder) and Frank (goalie).
B Grade Women's MCC 14 def Melb Uni 10
MCC only had 10 players, of which 2 were MCC football players and two were 14 yr olds, while Melb Uni had 14 players. Ruby represented Bendigo will an active performance in the forward line. It was a sunny beginning to the game then the clouds and wind appeared which made it terribly cool by the end of the match. The ladies were behind early in the first quarter but clawed back by the break to lead by one goal: 4 to 3 goals in favour of MCC.
By half time they stretched the lead to 5 goals, reaching the half time break with the score line reading MCC 9 to Melb Uni 4.
After the break the MCC train was slowing down on the soft Brunswick pitch, with MCC scoring another 3 goals to MU 4 goals. MCC were up 13 to 8 at the third quarter break. However, MCC held on by slowing the game and doing what they had to in winning the contest. Both team scored two goals for the final quarter.
Well done to the girls.
Some statistics for individuals and the men's team:
John Webb is 2 games away from his 100th
Alex Orr had played his 125th
Alex is 6 goals away from his 150th
Brett Ruiz is 6 games away from reaching his 100th:
Bendigo has equalled its record of having 3 wins in a row. The last occurrence was 2017 rounds 14 to 17. There was a bye in round 16, if we do well against Caulfield then we will have bettered it.
Last Modified on 03/06/2019 14:27