High expectations marked the rematch against LSE, this time as the actual home match.
With almost a full squad and Magill as coach, everyone was getting ready to show LSE what
Soton’s biggest boys can really do, especially since LSE had only brought seven players.
After a quick nail check (failed by Noah and Til), the first quarter kicked off with SUWPC
attacking the shallow end.

It became evident very quickly that we do not like attacking the shallow end. Top-scoring
fresher JJ got himself a kick-out rather than a goal to start off. I bet he was just nervous with
his dad being there to watch. Three minutes into the first quarter, LSE’s captain was able to
put one in the net. Just a few seconds later, we missed the not so big goal in the shallow end
and LSE managed to get another goal, bringing the score to 2-0. A few minutes later, we
earned ourselves our first exclusion of the match and were ready to show our practised
man-up tactics. Sadly, the ball was saved by their goalie and very quickly LSE managed to
score two more, now leading 4-0. With just 6 seconds to spare, Finn had enough of the
messing about and finally put it past their goalie, ending the quarter 4-1.

After this unfortunate quarter to start with, a motivating team talk was necessary. Head
coach Katie made it clear that we had to slow it down and use the wings. Now attacking the
deep-end, we were ready to bring the score back up. Using their weaknesses on the wing,
our very own social sec was able to score one from the wing. LSE was obviously getting
very scared now and while trying to fight back, earned themselves a kick-out. We didn’t get
our man-ups quite right yet and the ball was saved again. Using his energy from the 20
seconds out of the pool, their number 3 was able to score, putting the score to 5-2. Again
making use of the wings, Ed managed to score another beautiful goal, followed by Alex who
also shot from the wing and brought the score to 5-4. Dan clearly wanted to get in on the fun
as well but instead was sent out for a major. Copying LSE with their defense, we
professionally defended the attack of course. Just before the end of the second quarter, Alex
managed to put another one in, finishing with a much nicer score of 5-5 at halftime, great
success!

Then came the third quarter and SUWPC had a bit of PTSD from the first quarter. The focus
was now mainly on defense. Exactly like in the first quarter, Jack went for an exclusion to
start off the quarter but our defense was paying off. For a whole 5 minutes nothing much
happened since LSE was definitely using more than 30 seconds for each of their attacks and
Soton’s biggest boys were not able to steal the ball. They showed off their technical skills of
turning players and were able to score the first goal of the quarter, taking the lead to 6-5.
Katie was getting more and more nervous on the side. Unfortunately, Finn’s back was acting
up and he had to take a quick break. Without our capt’n it was even more hopeless to score
in the shallow end and instead LSE managed to score another, ending the quarter with 7-5.

The final quarter was more of LSE’s slow-mo tactics. Despite our best efforts, including
some great plays from Soton’s biggest, we couldn’t break through their defense. Surprisingly,
Ed had not had a major in this game yet so had to get one of course. To waste even more
time, LSE called a time-out to discuss their man-up strategy. As it turns out, we stood strong
with our defense and stopped LSE from taking a bigger lead. But at this point Alex earned
himself his first major of the match and Woody somehow forgot how the ref’s numbering
system works and decided to also get out of the pool. With two players down, SUWPC was
not able to defend the attack, now putting the score to 8-5.

With still four minutes to go, hopes were high to come back from this but LSE was just too good at keeping the ball. Still focusing on dropping, two of their players just kept back at the half line and kept drawing
fouls. Everyone was getting more and more nervous and all of our attacks were very quickly
stopped by mediocre shots. The final whistle was blown, with a final score of 8-5.

A good effort from everyone and a much closer match than last time. Well done everyone!

Man of the match: Alex- couple of great goals and tireless as per usual.
Dick of the day: Dan for forgetting he’s a pit :D. (To be fair, the defense got a lot better later
in the match)

Goals / Majors
Luke Bennalick: 0/0
Michael Scott (Til Jordan): 0/0
Ed Wilkes: 2/1
Finn Thomas: 1/0
Noah Boelmann: 0/0
Jack James: 0/2
Dan Ammon: 0/1
George Lea: 0/0
Alex Wilmshurst: 2/1
Woody Cho: 0/0 (not 1)
Ethan Underwood: 0/0
Sam Ellis: 0/0