Imperial Conquerors: Taking back the Empire

The time has come! The deciding match for Soton’s lovelies ladies; a home match against Imperial who currently sit top of the league table. A win by at least 5 goals secures their spot above Imperial in the Bucs rankings (and hopefully the league win), a difference of 4 means the girls have to bring their best against Surrey in their final match of the year. Anything below that means the girls will once again place second in the league, clearly not an option.

At 7pm on the faithful day, the ever-so-slightly nervous girls assembled at the familiar Jubilee pool, ready to play the match they’d been prepping for all year. After a narrow loss to imperial in the first semester the girls were determined to keep their home fixture win streak and show imperial how much we’d improved. After playing a game of chicken with the opposing captain, both sides leaving the match sheets a secret until the last second, the girl discovered Imperial had brough a team of 7 to oppose our full squad of 13. Overconfident or unavailable? Who knows, but after a warmup and a reassuring team talk, both teams lined up at their respective ends, Captain Lottie being a God at rock paper scissors meant the girls started at the deep end.

Imperial were obviously less worried about their stamina then we thought as they win the first swim off, and our girls are on the defensive. Upset at having lost the swim off, Rosie had a little tussle with her player and ended up gain the first of many exclusions for both teams. An excellently defend man down and save from Antonia meant the girls now had the chance to attack but a cross bar shot, and a quick counter gave Imperial the first goal of the game. Not to be put off the girls set up again, with Rhia showing off her pit skills in the shallow end and getting the Imperial Captain excluded and also swiftly after a penalty awarded which cause some confusion in the opposition. No goal was scored but less than a minute later Rhia manages to score an equalizer earning a roar from the impressive crowd who’d come to support. Another exclusion from Imperial’s captain but a save by the goalie gave Imperial the ball once again who proceeded to score another goal. Over excited by their lead, the Imperial Captain earns her 3^rd and final major as she then, much to her own confusion, gets wrapped from the pool, leaving Imperial playing man down for the remainder of the match. This leads to an Impressive three goals in a row for Soton, one from Iris and 2 more from Rhia. Less than a minute left and Imperial scores there first man down goal as one of the girls whips an impressive ball from halfway into the back of the net, impressing everyone in the pool. A goal from Katie and then an exclusion from our own captain means Imperial scores the final goal of the quarter leaving the score 5-4.

A quick refreshment and a talk about how to set up a double pit as the girls were now attacking the deep sets off the second quarter with a speedy Imperial winning the ball. This quarter is all action from the home white team as the first three minutes consists of two exclusions from soton, one from Lucia and another one by Lottie, but some well-practiced man down keeps the ball far away from our goal. A goal from Magill is followed by another two goals by Rhia who starts to show off her own speed and receives an assist from Antonia in goal to counter and score. Two more goals are then scored by Jess who took the opportunity of being unmarked to whip the ball into the goal. The girls then face a grueling 3 minutes of back and forth sprinting before the first half ends 10-4.

Pleased to now be at the required goal difference, the girls reassemble for the second half, ready to maintain their lead. Imperial had obviously had a productive team talk too as they sink in a goal in the first 20s. Not to be outshone at home, the girls get another one of the oppositions excluded and a beautiful double man up effortlessly means Magill gets her third goal of the match. Tilly then decides to find herself on the match sheet too as she scores a perfect goal. Imperial then retaliates with two goals of their own before also managing to exclude Magill and score a third goal in a row. Bring the score to 12-8. Obviously now feeling the pressure, the girls give away a penalty bringing the goal difference down to 3. Quick to correct this Magill scores a beautiful shot in the bottom of the shallow goal with no less than three Imperial players on her. Both teams now feeling the tension rising, Imperial scores a goal, and then moments later concedes a penalty of their own which of course Magill secures. With less than a minute left in the quarter Captain Lottie was obviously in a silly goofy mood as she earns herself a third exclusion and much like the oppositions captain, is wrapped from the game but with confidence in her girls. Obviously well founded as Lucia scores her first goal of the match in the last 5 seconds meaning we head into the final quarter with a score 15-10.

The final quarter and all to play for, a slightly hypocritical talk from an excluded captain and the girls lines up for the final time. This quarter was very back and forth as both teams fought for their place in the league. Imperial scoring the first goal, only to be countered 20s later by a goal from Jess. Lots of swimming up and down the pool as the pace of the game increased, passes were intercepted, and goals saved. Once again, Imperial broke the equilibrium as they scored a goal, but Iris was really proving her worth as she scored a second goal, bringing the score to 17-12. Imperial desperate to bring it down a goal, Soton to keep it as is. A nervous Lottie called a quick time out to alert the girls to better utilize their unmarked man and to slow down their attacks for the final 2 minutes. A goal from Rhia was matched by Imperial as we enter the final minute of the match, Soton was trying to keep possession to maintain the much-needed goal difference and as we entered the final 5s the crowd erupted into cheers for Magill as she scores the securing goal at exactly 00:00 as the final buzzer sounds.

After three years of having very close competition within the league. Coming second for the previous two years, the girls had finally done it, securing the penultimate win, leaving only the match against Surrey to finish on a high. Lots of emotions poolside, from both teams, and big cheers from the girls and their supporters, the girls splashed into the pool for a very smiley team picture.

As captain, I am very very proud of this team and our achievements this year. The success of the team is from the improvement and dedication of all our members, and I want to say a big thank you to all the effort everyone’s put in with extra sessions and attention in trainings. One match to go ladies lets go get ‘em!!

Man of the match: Rhia for scoring an amazing 6 goals and not getting a single major!

Dick of the Day: Lottie for being silly and getting herself wrapped even if she did secure her title as Major Queen.

Goals/Majors:

Antonia Neild 0/0

Eleanna Fairhurst 0/0

Ellie Allsop 0/0

Iris Bugnar 2/0

Jess Grace 3/1

Katie Magill 6/1

Katie Smith 0/0

Lottie Ratledge 0/3

Lucia Ciardo 1/1