Modesty is an incredibly important attribute, but seeing as my last post was pretty explicit about my shortcomings as a rower, today I am going to take the liberty of tooting my own horn. For purposes of full disclosure, I should note that I have since been demoted from stroke to seat 6. Allegedly it’s the “engine room” of the boat, but I think the coaches finally figured out that I have zero sense of rhythm.
Sunday night the water polo team had our first away game. It was in the Midlands, which, shockingly enough is in the middle of England and just getting there was a comedy of errors with rain, winding roads, multiple laps around every roundabout we encountered and a driver who wasn’t getting along well with the gear shifter and couldn’t find the lights for the first 20 minutes. Loughborough is known throughout the UK as a “sporty” school, an uncommon distinction. They also have one of the nicest aquatic facilities in the UK and a rare 50M (Olympic distance) pool. And despite a hydraulic pool floor and moveable bulkhead, they had no shot clocks, no scoreboard, and no game clock.
The game had an inauspicious beginning. We lost the sprint start, then a girl immediately got beat on a drive to the goal. As a perfectly placed overpass landed on the water right in front of her, I thought “to steal or not to steal” but the thought alone implied it was too late- she drove to the 2 meter park and then hammered the ball under my right arm. Ten seconds off the clock and we were already down. Oxford lost to Longborough 10-1 last year and I thought, “this is going to be a very long game- thank God I can’t see a scoreboard.” Fortunately, the duration of the first quarter was actually rather uneventful. Even though we couldn’t seem to pass the ball, Loughborough didn’t manage to convert on their shots. At the break, I swapped with the other goalie, but there was some confusion about whether I would play field. I didn’t jump in until after the ref blew the whistle to start the quarter and he decided that was an illegal entry and gave the other team a 5M penalty- I need to double check the rule book but I’m pretty sure that is nonsensical. Irregardless we were down 2-0. Incredibly embarrassed, I drove constantly on the next few possessions- at one point I beat my defender on the transition, got a wet pass from the deep wing, swam up to the goal, spun to get my defender out of the way and beat the goalie strong side low. Every other pass to a drive for the rest of the quarter resulted in a turnover, but at least we were on the board.
I went back into goal for the third quarter for a little active rest. Almost immediately the defense was out of position. I gave up another goal off an overhead pass to a driver. But really, there is no excuse for getting beat strong side low. Annoyed with the overpasses I resolved to come out on every possible steal. The next possession was a pass into the set player but sure enough, I went for it. There was a tussle for the ball and TWEET, the ref called another 5M penalty. She was outside 2M so it should have been a foul, maybe an ejection, but it’s not everyday you see a goalie rough up the 2M player and this ref’s policy seemed to be- when in doubt, call a penalty. Over eighty percent of penalty shots go strong side low because it is the spot the shooter is least likely to miss. As a result, goalies are taught to lunge out and sweep low to high. But this girl lobbed it right over my head as I jumped forward. Unorthodox approach, but mortifying none the less. The Loughborough student body went nuts. Raucous cheering reverberated off the walls of the indoor auditorium, taunting me. Now I was seriously piqued The next possession we got beat on yet another drive but when the shot went cross-cage, I swatted it away. The ball landed on the far post and another girl fired off a shot. Blocked again. Loughborough recovered the ball yet again and passed it across the cage for a hasty shot and a smooth pull-down block from me. This time I managed to hold onto the ball rather than hoping the defenders would recover it. Our bench finally had an excuse to go nuts. The momentum back in our favor, we converted on a lob shot to end the quarter down 4-2. Our confidence increased going into the 4th quarter and I went back in the field. We earned a penalty shot of our own off a drive (maybe the ref was feeling guilty for some dubious calls). The coach let me take it. True to the averages, I fired it cross-cage low. Worked like a charm. We capitalized on a drive for another goal to even it up. In the final minutes of the game I posted up at 2M and the wing passed it in even with three defenders swarming. I managed to get a hand on the ball and fire off a backhand before the defenders got a hold of my arm. Just before the defenders dragged me under water, I watched it sail over the goalies shoulder. We all lost track of the score in the midst of all the excitement of the second half and when we went to the scorer’s table at the end of the game we were shocked to learn that we won 5-4. Loughborough is one of the best teams in the league so this bodes well for our record and was an important confidence boost for a very young team.
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| Most abusive sport of the week- Rowing: 1, Water Polo: 1 |
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