5 for us, 32 for the tub x

Once upon a time, on a wet and windy Wednesday, Southampton’s strongest girls headed down to Bath for their first game of the season. Following their recent demotion from the Premiership, they had the highest spirits and expectations looking forward to a match in the friendly league below.

After an inspirational team talk, the first quarter began and we very quickly realised that we were going to get absolutely destroyed. It was heartbreaking to realise that Bath’s GB Pit A was not only very good, but also very big and very strong. She wasted no time scoring off poor little Smithy. The Bath girls were bigger and stronger than us, and much, much faster, performing counter after counter while Smithy and Evans hosted a party for two in defence just watching these monstrous women swim at them and score time and time again. They ended the first quarter 9-0. What a day…

The second quarter began with a rapid Bath goal and some very scrappy attempts at defence. Smithy earning herself a very silly major by tossing the ball away after the ref called a foul against her, bad dog. Bath continued their hate train against us, scoring freely while our girls grew tired and weary of these great beasts. Captain Fairhurst decided to get herself on the score sheet with a lovely major and Smithy inspired by her captain’s actions earned herself a second. Coach James then instructed Miss Bugnar to move across to Pit D and she simply refused having seen Bath’s GB Pit A. Despite this, Southampton finally found the net, with Carmen opening the scoring for Southampton, quickly followed by a last-second goal from Bugnar, bringing the score to 20–2 at halftime, a morale improvement if not a numerical one.

The third quarter saw Bath rotate their starting seven except for their GB Pit A, who continued her personal vendetta against Smithy. Bath scored early, but Bugnar fought back, adding two more goals to her tally, followed by Carmen finding the net again, bringing Southampton to a total of 5 goals. Bath’s rampage continued, aided by a misplaced pass from Fairhurst setting them up on their way to scoring four more goals. Then Carmen conceded a penalty, could this be the fatal blow? But Ella Evans produced a huge penalty save, lifting the team and bench alike. The quarter ended 27–5; with this being the most successful quarter so far, is there still a chance for the comeback?

Fearful of the potential comeback, Bath returned to their starting seven for the fourth quarter to close the game out. The defensive effort tightened significantly for both teams, with Southampton only conceding five goals this quarter, limiting further damage however they were unable to add to their goal tally, with the final score being 32-5.

MVP: Carmen and Ella Evans – spectacular performance

Dick of the day – Cuming for 2 hands catch

Written by: Katie Smith and Elliot Oldham

Goals/ Majors

Ella Evans: 0/0

Isobel Neighbour: 0/0

Eleanna Fairhurst: 0/1

Katie Smith: 0/2

Bracken Kennedy: 0/0

Jess Firth: 0/0

Alice Hunter: 0/0

Rosie Cumming: 0/0