Water Polo Report
3rd XII Match Report
Despite having only two training sessions prior to the start of the season, the 3rds were pumped up and ready to play on the first Saturday of Term 4. The transition looked very impressive at the start of the first quarter, with our boys very quickly into the attacking formation, delivering the ball to Louis Cathles at centre forward for the opening goal of the game. Aggressive defence at the back by Chris Tomsic regularly gave the team turnover ball, and accurate passing coupled with fast transition gave us many shots on goal. The 5-0 score line at the end of the quarter was a just representation of the contest.
The second quarter began similarly to the first, with aggressive defence, particularly from Lucas Gillespie, causing turnovers and allowing our fast wingers to create passing options and shots on goal. St Aloysius managed to score two goals in transition, giving us a 9-2 half time lead. The third quarter was much tighter, with the opposition strangling our centre forwards, and our tired passing leading to turnovers. Excellent goal keeping by Charlie Hawkins saved the team on numerous occasions. A late goal ensured that we kept momentum going into the final quarter 10-2 up. Our defensive tenacity and speed down the wings, from Josh Gallant, enabled us to maintain our lead and even score a very nice goal to finish the game. The final score was a very pleasing 11-2, with hunger from the team to improve even further in the coming weeks.
Top Image Credit: 3rd XII Water Polo team
Mr M A Jones
3rd XII Coach
14B Match Report
The 14B’s had a great start to the term’s fixtures, with a comfortable victory over Aloys. Despite not having been competitive in the pool since Term 1, the boys came ready to swim and worked hard for the entire match, working well as a team. They moved into an early lead, with a decisive goal from Gus Pritchard, which was also followed by strong performances up front from Alex Ryan, Max Hill and Jack Steiger-Thorpe. In defence, Ewan de Vries and Kian Austin put on a masterclass in goal keeping, while the boys were aggressive and quick in defence. A special mention to Orlando Stewart, who joined us from the Preparatory Team and had no trouble matching the skill of the older boys. A great team effort, with a 7-2 win to start the season, showing great signs for the fixtures to come.
Mr P W Reid
14Bs Coach
| Team | Opponent | Result | Score | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st XII | St Aloysius | Win | 8-7 | Z Izzard 3, E Baxter 2, C Bowditch 2, C Ashton, |
| 2nd XII | St Aloysius | Win | 4-2 | H Stiel, Z Warden, B Shoemark, A Mingay |
| 3rd XII | St Aloysius | Win | 12-2 | L Cathles 5, O Danks 2, B Banks 2, A Luciano, J Gallant, L Gillespie |
| 16A | St Aloysius | Win | 16-2 | J Black 5, P Russell 4, H Walls 4, T Limantano 2, O Kelly |
| 16B | St Aloysius | Win | 8-6 | X Aloisio 2, J Pridmore 2, A Stock 2, A Howard, D Lord |
| 15A | St Aloysius | Loss | 5-10 | T Larcombe 3, C Kovacs, L Ellis |
| 14A | St Aloysius | Win | 13-1 | G Kennedy 4, C Semmens 3, T Milcz 3, J Jagger, H Stewart, M Hughes |
| 14B | St Aloysius | Win | 7-2 | A Ryan 2, G Pritchard 2, J Stieger-Thorpe 2, M Hill |
Zac Izzard in the U16s Australian Team
In late August this year, I was fortunate enough to be selected for the Under-16 Australian Water Polo team to compete in Greece at the World Championships. We first travelled to Serbia for a pre-tournament tour and were surprised by the intensity sustained throughout our practice games. We had to adapt our game style to suit that of our opponents. One of my highlights in Serbia was meeting one of the world’s best players, Fillip Filipović, who won two gold medals for Serbia in the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.
Next up, we flew to Hungary. They had a similar play style as the Serbians, with quick ball movement, complex plays, and a challenging style of press defence, making it difficult for us to advance the ball up the field. We made it to Greece with high hopes and an optimistic mindset. Our first and most challenging game against Montenegro was our most important game to win. With sheer speed and strength, and with strong outside shooters, they outmuscled us, and we went down in a narrow loss of 12-14. Our next game was against Latvia, with their strength not being to the level of the other European teams, we were able to come away with an easy win to face our next opponent, the home team, Greece.
The atmosphere was breathtaking, with a night time game and a packed stadium and horns and flares going off in the stands. Latvia came away with the win having a home crowd advantage, putting us, unfortunately out of the top 8. With a further tough loss to Brazil, followed by two convincing wins against Slovenia and Germany, this placed us in a solid 13th place out of 28 teams, setting a respectable benchmark as the first Australia Under 16s team to compete in a World Championships.
Zac Izzard (Year 11)
1st XII Water Polo