Imperial vs Southampton Uni girls: we’re not done.

For the women’s 3rd match of the season we rose and shone for an early trip to London, 11 girls piled into the minibus for the much anticipated Imperial match. After a smooth 2hr drive with DJ Smith providing us with some bangers (& sadly no mash), the team faced their first hurdle: parking in Central London. After a rather repetitive guided tour of the same lovely loop, the girls arrived with ample time to eat some lunch and share some lucky Percy Pig tails. We did a quick warm up which was followed by an inspirational team talk and then we lined up to await the refs starting whistle.

Miss Ramshaw was feeling extra energetic because she hadn’t had to worry about tying her shoes that morning (they were Velcro), so she won the first swim off and a now well practiced team set up the arc and began the first attack. This was put to an end as the Imperial goalie made an impressive save. Soton’s defense was just as strong as this continued back and forth until Imperial scored the first goal after 3 minutes. Now in the groove they quickly followed up with a second goal. Refusing to let the quarter finish with no goals, Katie Magill scored our first goal with a lovely counter. Not to be outdone, Captain Lottie then scored another goal, 30s later Miss Neild outstretched her never ending limbs and made a beautiful save. Unfortunately, despite an exclusion from Imperial, they manage to secure two more goals, ending the quarter 4-2.

A quick team talk and the second quarter begins with Rosie once again winning the swim off. Apparently upset at losing, an Imperial girl picked up an exclusion but a slightly rocky man-up put us back on the defensive. Never one to shy away from the spot light, Jess countered with an exclusion of her own and after half a quarter of back and forth Imperial managed to secure the first goal. A Katie-Katie iconic combo then secured Soton’s first goal of the quarter (zero points for guessing which one actually scored). Eagar to redeem the team, Magill pulled out her favorite trick and got someone excluded and despite a much better man-up, the ball was saved by the goalie. Clearly in shock that we managed a semi decent man-up, Lottie got sent out and Imperial set up their own attack and once again managed to secure a goal leaving the quarter 6-3.

Motivated by a much closer quarter, the second half of the match begun with Imperial winning their first swim off, but after a half time talk with President Magill the girls defense was flawless as the whole quarter composed of some intense polo as each team tried to one up the other and be the first to score. The quarter was such a close match that the only goal was scored by imperial with 30s left meaning that we headed into the final quarter with only 4 goals.

A slight change of tactics left the girls going into the final quarter determined to close the gap. Like the 3rd quarter, both teams were evenly matched and were jostling for the ball for the first 3 minutes. Something felt far from the norm in the pool, Magill had not scored for a quarter!! So naturally, being Magill, she proceeded to put 2 goals in the back of the net in quick succession leaving the score 7-5. Having caught on to our new tactics, Imperial managed to counter with 2 goals of their own but completely unfazed Katie responded with a beautiful goal going straight under the goalies arm. Imperial managed to secure one last goal and an exclusion before the final buzzer. The final score was 10-6, a well-played and competitive match for our ladies.

The tired girls had long showers all round and headed back to the minibus with the promise of a very well deserved pizza and pint at Stags. Despite a long hard day, the karaoke was loud and the vibes were high as the girls ventured home, raring to take on Imperial at home in the new year. COME ON YOU SAINTS!

Man of the match: President Magill, the undisputable, undeniable, unstoppable GOAT and of course her beautiful First Lady Til for driving and coaching us!

Dick of the day: Imperial for kidnapping our water bottles at the end of the quarter!

Goals/Majors:

Antonia Neild 0/0

Jess Grace 0/1

Tilly Phillips 0/0

Katie Smith 0/0

Rosie Ramshaw 0/0

Katie Magill 5/0

Lucia Ciardo 0/0

Meg Harvey 0/0

Lottie Ratledge 1/1

Iris Bugnar 0/0