On Wednesday our men’s first team played its opening game in the Hampshire league for 2012/13. The game took place at home in the Jubilee Sports Centre meaning that there was vast support on the side (a big thank you to everyone who came to support). The opposition was a newly formed team composed of the best players aged under 19 in Hampshire.

The first half of the game found our team easily scoring goals, since exhaustion wasn’t yet affecting the team. We had quick returns in defence, as well as fast and organised attacks. Our players had a strength advantage that they made sure they used by taking majors in the pit or by driving from the arc. The final score at the end of the first quarter was 3-1 for the Southampton team. The second quarter was even more productive, with the Stag’s team scoring four goals and conceding none. At half time, the score was 7-1 to Southampton.

In the second half, exhaustion started gradually affecting us more and more; meaning that the youngsters found more chances to score, by breaking and counter-attacking. With things heating up, fouls became more frequent leading to one of our players getting wrapped (being sent straight out of the game) and more majors being given away. Our team still managed to score 3 goals, but conceded 1. The final score for the third quarter was 10-2.

The fourth quarter was a big let-down for our team as the game’s level was considerably lowered. Our team, sadly, could not set up a proper attack when we had the possession of the ball. This, in addition to the many mistakes that were constantly happening lead to 2 goals being conceded and none being scored. This led to the final score being 10-4 to our team.

In order to increase our stamina, land training has already been scheduled and
swimming exercise has become tougher.

A big thank you to everybody who was there, we hope you enjoyed the game. Also a huge thank you to the people on the table and of course the referees who helped us run the match.

Scorers:
5 – Panos Logothetis
2 – Will Divall
1 – Will Logothetis
1 – Connor Hogg
1 – Nick Tankov