OUWPC Oxford University Water Polo Club

1. OUWPCOxford University Water Polo Club Men and Women Storm Through To BUSA Semi-Finals Oxford Men began their campaign in the BUSA Shield with a professional performance against a weak Surrey team. Despite early doubts about the number of Surrey players with Greek-sounding names, it quickly became apparent that the Blues were the superior team, with goals from Russell Woolley, Gareth Davies and Matt Fox putting Oxford comfortably 10-0 ahead at the end of the first half. Surrey were having major problems breaking down a stubborn Blues defence, but gained a huge slice of luck in the early moments of the second half when Oxford new boy Will Herbert was wrapped up for brutality, after kicking out above the waterline. Faced with four minutes of man-down play, Oxford were shaken, but Surrey still did not threaten the Oxford goal with any conviction, all was going well until a Surrey shot went in from the left wing and was seemingly deflected clear by Oxford keeper Keith Stanski, until ex-captain Steve Harrison bundled the ball into his own goal, to the bemusement of his team-mates and the crowd. However it was put down to kindness, giving Surry their only goal of the game! The result, a convincing 12-1 win for the Blues. The Blues, inspired by the score line, repeated the result winning 12-1 against Warwick B. Having seen Oxfords’ counter attacking prowess, Warwick employed an unusual tactic of not bothering to come up in attack in order to prevent the counter! After a slow start, the Blues eventually converted some chances giving a 5-0 score at half time. The dominance continued in the second half, with fresher Tom Ricketts finishing nicely and Will Herbert adding to his tally. At 8-0 up, captain Rich Thomson made a change of dubious tactical merit, to bring out the goalie and get him on the score sheet, with Steve Harrison taking over as goalkeeper, Keith Stanski made a single swim to the attacking end, and buried a shot past the hapless Warwick goalie with his first touch of the ball. Maybe the rest of us should take some tips on finishing! With Stinski on the side, the average-at-best goalkeeping talents of Harrison were put to the test. Sure enough, after scoring an own goal in the last game, he was again responsible for allowing in the second goal of the day, although the defense may have had something to do with it as well!! With Oxford’s qualification for the semi-finals almost in the bag, the Blues went into the game against UCL needing only to draw to progress. After a strong start by UCL, scoring a few early goals, Oxford went ahead with goals from Woolley, Matt Fox, and Gareth Davies and finished the game 15-3 victors, securing their place in the semi finals. The reigning BUSA champions kicked off their title defence against ULU. Oxford raced ahead in the opening quarter, despite the significant presence of the ULU centre-forward, who appeared to be on day-release from the London Aquarium. Vice-captain Anne Hagen handled her well, despite being at least half the weight of her opposite number, and still had time to score twice. Stephanie Lee picked up a couple, one a quickly-taken free throw and the other after a well-delivered pass from Hagen on extra-player. Jess Radford was in the action too, slotting home twice, first effortlessly from distance and next after turning her defender at centre-forward, to end a stunning opening quarter 6-1. The home side came out hard in the second quarter and managed to snatch an early goal on extra-player after Farrands was harshly sin-binned by the referee. However Oxford were soon back on track through a Radford double in the same fashion as before. Oxford’s player-down defence was exposed again following another dubious ejection, this time for Hagen, and ULU scored their third to leave the score at 8-3 at the half. The third quarter saw a ULU come-back as Oxford relaxed their press defence, allowing their opposition time to shoot, the dangerous number 12 scoring two almost identical goals off the left post. Radford initiated the Oxford resurgence with a free-throw shot. The period finished 11-7 after a counter-attack saw keeper Paula Croxson save the first shot, but she could only watch helplessly as the ULU attacker smuggled in the rebound. Going into the last quarter, ULU sniffed an opportunity and bit-by-bit took advantage of Oxford’s complacency, scoring three from distance and one from the penalty line. At 11-11, the ULU contingent in the crowd was going wild, especially after their team appeared to be dead and buried. However, Tomkins stole a long pass and drove up the pool, offloading to Radford who made no mistake to seal a narrow win. At the final hooter the Oxford coach was allegedly seen clutching his chest in agony. Next up were Cambridge, and Oxford was determined to lay down the gauntlet for next term’s Varsity Match. Although Cambridge demonstrated some swimming ability, it was without direction as the home team raced to a 4-0 lead at the half, through Farrands, finishing well twice after long swims, and Hagen, matching the captain with two elegant finishes. The Oxford coach was soon left tearing out what’s left of his hair as Cambridge were allowed to take three undefended shots, with the crowd crying out “not again!”. However, Oxford regained their composure after some stern words and after Lee was pulled back close to the Cambridge goal, Hagen stepped up for the penalty to make it 8-3. It was left to Radford, who had been on defensive duties up to this point, to steal the show as she made her mark on the game with a half-way shot on the hooter, straight over the keeper’s head. The visiting Birmingham team were a different prospect, relying heavily on one key player and resorting to a far more physical style of play. The game opened scrappily with neither team able to construct a solid attack. However, Farrands broke the deadlock with another trademark drive. Oxford continued to dominate in the second half, despite the opposition’s aggressive attentions. Hagen picked up another two in carbon-copy finishes right-side, and then picked up a fourth from the opposite wing following a sharp steal by Sarah Taylor. They emerged 9-3 victors with their place in the semi finals.

2. Blues Too Hot For Tabs After five weeks and many hours of strenuous training, combined with large amounts of team bonding, none of which involved alcohol in any form, for fear of incurring the wrath of the Captain and gaining a large number of press-ups, widths of fly, or swimming underwater, or some harsh combination of the three, Cambridge travelled to the Rosenblatt Pool at Iffley Road in Oxford for the Varsity Match. The Dark Blues had endured injuries, illnesses, and the threat of full body shaving to get to this point, and with results this season suggesting that the match would be a tight one, were ready to battle hard for the victory they felt they deserved. With the atmosphere around the pool tingling with anticipation, the game kicked off, and both teams began nervously. With a number of chances flying wide of the goal, or being saved by the ’keeper, neither side wanted to be the first to concede. With ninety seconds gone, Oxford gained their first man-up, but after some neat passing failed to convert. As the Dark Blues turned to cover back in defence, they were handed a reprieve, after an illegal entry by the Cambridge player gifted them a second man-up. Despite a seemingly golden opportunity, the chance went begging, and after a third man-up was squandered, Oxford were beginning to look increasingly nervous, with some heroics from ‘keeper Keith Stanski keeping the Light Blues out. With nearly six of the eight minutes over, a clear cut chance was finally created, with Vice-Captain Matt Fox catching the defence on the counter and sprinting clear. Despite his shot rebounding off the crossbar, Oxford were in luck, the ball falling kindly to Steve Harrison ,who placed the ball home to give Oxford the lead. Barely thirty seconds later, Russell Woolley, in his first Varsity, nailed a shot from distance to open his account. Cambridge replied quickly, coolly scoring a man-up after Harrison was majored whilst defending the pit, but with a minute to go in the quarter, Oxford again found themselves man-up after a clumsy challenge on the arc, and this time Captain Rich Thomson found Gaz Davies clear on the post to slam the ball home. With more acrobatic goalkeeping from Stanski keeping the Tabs at bay, Oxford found themselves 3-1 to the good at the end of the quarter, and had visibly relaxed into the game. The second quarter began in the same vein as the first, with Oxford going man-up quickly, and Woolley converting the chance from the wing. Another man-up goal from Woolley followed, and the Dark Blues were looking dangerous on every attack, while Cambridge were struggling to find a way past Stanksi, as shots crashed back off the woodwork or were deflected away by his ape-like arms. However, as the Light Blues pressed forward, a chance was created on the strong driving position, and the Cambridge No. 9 made no mistake with the shot, pulling it back to 5-2. A period of scrappy play ensued, and when Fox was ejected from pit defence, the No. 9 slotted home again, with a Light Blue revival gaining momentum. The initiative was snatched back when Oxford again found themselves a man to the good, Thomson placing an inch-perfect pass to Harrison on the post, who nailed home a textbook post goal. After a Cambridge timeout, and a missed man-up opportunity for Cambridge after Davies was ejected, the Dark Blues were handed a boost when the Cambridge No. 9 was wrapped up after his third major foul. Despite missing the chance, and conceding a goal on the counter, Woolley took his tally to four with a goal from the pit, the first half ending with Oxford 7-4 up. The third quarter began with a moment of controversy, with Davies and his defender being simultaneously expelled for some rough play in the pit. With Davies now on two majors, a further slip-up would cost the Dark Blues one of their key players. The Oxford lead was extended again, as Harrison found himself clean through on a counter attack, and scored a neat one on zero at the near post. The game was still peppered with patches of scrappy play, and with just over half of the quarter gone fresher Will Herbert marked his first Varsity Match by giving away a penalty with a clumsy challenge inside five metres while trying to catch a counter attack. Fortunately for him, his blushes were saved when Stanski continued his incredible form to block the shot, and when Woolley scored another goal from distance on the resulting attack, it seemed that it might be the Dark Blues’ day. There was another twist in the tale, as Herbert was ejected for the second time in a minute, and Cambridge converted a goal from the weak wing, taking advantage of a poor post block from Harrison. With the Dark Blues suddenly struggling for goals, Cambridge pulled another goal back, leaving the game finely poised at 9-6 at the end of the quarter. With Thomson’s rallying call ringing in their ears, Oxford kicked off the final quarter looking to kill off the game early on. It started well, with Herbert atoning for his expulsions in the previous quarter to slot home a one on zero at the near post after a fifteen metre drive. Cambridge were not going to give up without a fight, and cut the difference to three with another well-worked goal. After the Dark Blues missed three man-up goals in a row, the nerves were beginning to show, with the crowd becoming increasingly restless. When Fox scored a crucial goal with just under half the quarter gone, the crowd relaxed, and with the next change of possession, Captain Thomson called a timeout to compose his troops. With under four minutes on the clock and four goals advantage, the game was Oxford’s to lose, and when Thomson scored his first of the game from the resulting attack, the victory was assured. There was still time for Herbert to earn his third ejection of the game, Woolley to score his sixth, and Cambridge to pull one final goal back, before committing the last of their fourteen majors with ten seconds on the clock. As the clock ticked to zero, the crowd went wild, as Oxford men secured their first Varsity victory in the Rosenblatt Pool, and put the memories of the previous years behind them. The game finished 13-8.

3. The reigning Varsity champions took on the visiting Tabs at the Rosenblatt Swimming Pool, billed as massive favourites. However, Cambridge passion coupled with some nervousness in the Oxford camp meant that the visitors took the lead, late in the first quarter, despite three extra-player opportunities for the home side, Rachael Mell squeezing one in from centre-forward. But it was only a minute before Oxford equalized, with Jess Radford reciprocating at the other end, as they started to find some shape and composure in attack. The second quarter was all Oxford as Cambridge could no longer hold off the inevitable goal-rush. Radford added four more from various positions, with captain Becky Farrands and vice-captain Anne Hagen weighing in with one each to support the Australian centre-forward. Goalkeeper Paula Croxson pulled off a great penalty save at the other end in the midst of the Dark Blues’ scoring frenzy after some confusion with her sin-binned team-mate resulted in the five-metre shot. A consolation Cambridge goal, half-way through the period, did little to ease the pressure and Oxford’s fearsome counter-attack was just too strong. Four more goals in the third quarter meant it was all over at that point. Radford and Hagen each picked up a goal for themselves and discovery of the season, Sally Bullock, picked up a brace after some play-making by Radford down the left. The light blues picked up a solitary score on extra-player after the Oxford captain was excluded for a foul on the centre-forward. Farrands and Radford tied up the match with one each in the final quarter, matching the two Cambridge goals scored and the final result of 13-5 was an emphatic demonstration of the destructive capabilities the home side possessed and the strength and depth in the squad, with every one of the 13 players contributing in the water to the win. Scorers:- Oxford - Radford 7, Farrands 2, Hagen 2, Bullock 2 Cambridge – Mell 1, Ermgassen 1, Etiebet 2, Riley 1 Boys On Tour On the weekend of the 10th and 11th of December the men's team made the short 260 miles trip to beautiful Newcastle-on-Tyne for an invitational tournament. Hopes were high that the 9 man team could put in some good performances and overcome the loss of some key players. Despite early worries about the amount of time this trip might take, Gaz' driving proved to be a lot quicker than anyone could have envisaged, and we arrived in good time, if slightly shaken. The journey up was to prove mildly entertaining, with Gaz employing the "how many spaces can I take up with one bus?" approach to parking (the answer is apparently six, although we were hoping for eight at one stage) at our service station stop, then using the now infamous "I'm bigger than everyone else so can park where I like" technique during our brief visit to the Angel of the North (by simply pulling onto the verge on the edge of a busy dual carriageway). Although a number of the team were seen and heard to question the legality of the method, it seems that the Wild Welshman is actually a trendsetter in the world of parking, as shown by the large number of tourists who followed his lead and pulled up onto the verge behind us. The entertainment on the journey was not quite done, after a short detour through a council estate and a slight hint of worry as it was discovered we weren't 100% certain where we were or where we were going, we were cheered up no end by Biscuit's 'turkey air guitar' accompaniment to the Guns 'n' Roses classic Sweet Child O' Mine, and then further by finding where we were supposed to be heading. Arriving into the centre of Newcastle with Al Pacino warmly informing us that "we're in Hell right now, gentlemen", all that was left was for us to find the pool and park the van, which proved to be fairly straightforward when Gaz tried the "I'm bigger than everyone else, one-way streets do not apply to me" approach, and found that it did actually work. With a couple of hours to kill, we set off into the heart of the Toon to search for a missing member of the team, who was found relatively quickly, and to try and understand what the Geordie Big Issue salesmen were on about, which I don't think we managed all weekend. A quick bite to eat later we were set fair for a return to the pool and our first game of the tournament, against Sheffield Hallam. We had not faced Hallam since 2003, when they defeated us in the final of the BUSA Shield, and as the only member of the team who was present on both that fateful day in Nottingham and this slightly less fateful day in Newcastle, Steej Harrison was keen to put in a good performance and silence the demons that haunted him still. The rest of the team just wanted to win because they don't like losing very much. A swift assessment of the Hallam team left us feeling mildly confident - their team resembled a prop forward convention, and they had clearly come here for the drinking first and the water polo second. Despite playing in a shallow-deep pool for the first time this year the Blues made a competent start. After conceding an early goal, Steve Harrison equalised in the shallow goal bouncing under the arms of the Hallam 'keeper. Sheffield were proving to be fairly physical, and had some strong shooters from the top of the arc, and after conceding a couple more goals to these types of shots from distance, Oxford vice-Captain Matt Fox atoned for an earlier miss with a confident finish from the weak side driving position to leave the Blues 3-2 down at half-time, and now attacking the deep end.

4. The second half began in superb style for Oxford, with Fox and Harrison combining to score an early contender for goal of the season. After Fox peeled out to the right wing and received the pass from 'keeper Keith Stanski, he spotted Harrison's drive to the left post and placed a wonderful inch-perfect pass over the heads of the two chasing defenders, and Harrison buried a first-time shot into the top corner past the helpless Hallam goalie. Having equalised Oxford were buoyed into further action, and top scorer Russell Woolley quickly got in on the action with a couple of excellent goals from distance. Captain Rich Thomson also grabbed a goal from a one on zero, much to the surprise of his team mates. Oxford managed to end the half with a clean sheet, with 'keeper Keith Stanski on top form and saving his defenders blushes on a number of occasions, and leaving the Blues victors by 8 goals to 3. With the match between the other two men's teams ending with ULU beating Newcastle by four goals, Oxford ended the day on top of the group, and looking forward to the next day's games. Before all that was the evenings entertainment, and after dumping the minibus outside the house of Mr. Incredible, who was apparently making a special appearance for Newcastle during the tournament, we headed off into the depths of Newcastle in search of beer, music and intelligent female company. The first was discovered readily enough, and after new man Doug Jordan narrowly missed out on his 5-second pint downing badge twice in a row, TJ was challenged to a downing challenge by his opposite number from Newcastle. With the weight advantage obviously in favour of the home side, he would have his work cut out to gain victory, and so it proved, although we still believe he was robbed of his victory after the referee was swayed by partisan home support. Whatever the real result had been, it was time for us to move on. It didn't take long for us to arrive at our final destination, the Student Union bar at Northumbria University. It became apparent that this was their Christmas celebration for the year, which we had shamelessly gatecrashed with a bunch of students who weren't even at Northumbria. This was never going to be a barrier from us having a good time, and we set about it with gusto, despite early claims from Biscuit and Foxy that they were going to "take it easy". After getting a couple of beers in, Mr. Incredible found us and announced that there was to be a boat race, and we had to find five of our most courageous men to brave this dangerous challenge. First pick obviously went to TJ, who was going to compete whether he liked it or not. Second pick was current pint-downing record holder Steej. Doug and Russell swiftly joined the team, and the last place was taken, slightly reluctantly, by Gaz, who, in his last boat race had cost his team victory by taking an age to get a pint of Guinness down. The rules were explained (briefly, since everyone knows how a boat race works), and Biscuit inadvertently found himself buying the team five pints of Diesel with some money he'd given to Gaz to "get a round in". Although the team were initially nervous of this scary sounding drink, a quick inspection discovered that it was nothing but the Purple Turtle mainstay Snakebite Black. With that doubt sent packing the team lined up. The starter's gun went off, and the other teams were left in our wake. Steej and Doug reinforced their position as the clubs premier pint downers with storming performances, but then disaster struck. Gaz was struggling, finding the fizzy purple drink too much for his sensitive palate. With the other teams catching up fast, drastic action was needed, and was taken by Steej, as he poured the remnants of the pint over the head of the stunned Welshman. With Gaz left dripping in the corner, TJ and Russell finished up quickly and Oxford were victorious, much to the disappointment of the other teams. Indeed, a certain England player from ULU was heard berating his teammates. "How could you lose to Oxford?!" Apparently quite easily. The rest of the evening passed mostly without incident, although some women dressed as sheep did come and offer themselves to us in return for some "votes", Biscuit ended his eight-girl "crash and burn" sequence with one of Santa's elves, and Gaz got drunk and slipped over in some water we’d given him earlier to sober him up, but he'd earlier spilled on the floor, which was the source of much amusement, until we realised he was driving us home the next day. After that, the only thing left was for us to take our tops off and nearly get thrown out of the club, which we duly did, and duly nearly were. The morning broke with the Blues all feeling slightly worse for wear (except Keith who had sensibly avoided such silly behaviour), as we struggled back to Newcastle's City Pool to continue the tournament. The first match of the day pitted the Blues against BUSA champions ULU. Having been comprehensively beaten in last years corresponding fixtures, we were hoping for a better performance, and had the added distraction of TJ's leopardskin thong, purchased that lunchtime as an early Christmas present for our youngest member. However, the Blues started badly whilst defending the shallow end, conceding a number of goals off the rebound and from the pit, finding themselves 4-0 down at half time. Despite the scoreline, Oxford were battling hard, and competing well against some talented opposition. Sure enough, Oxford finally scored, with Russell Woolley getting his first goal of the day, and although Oxford failed to pull back the difference, goals from Rich Thomson, Matt Fox and Woolley ensured that the scoreline was competitive at 9-4.

5. With only one ladies game between that game and the final game against Newcastle, we knew it was going to be tough, although the thong had survived ULU and was confidently paraded before the game. This seemed to act as more of a spur than a distraction to Newcastle as they started strongly, with Mr. Incredible shrugging off his hangover to score from just inside the halfway line. Things never really improved, with the Blues turning in one of their worst performances of the season. Trailing 5-1 at half-time, with the solitary goal coming from Matt Fox, the Blues managed to pull it back to 5-4 through goals from Rich Thomson and Gareth Davies on the counter attack, but just as the game seemed within their reach, Newcastle scored two quick goals, and the Blues seemed to lose a little bit of verve. As Newcastle pulled away, it suddenly seemed that everything was difficult for Oxford, as they struggled to even set up an attack. With fatigue setting in, the Blues failed to trouble the scorers again, losing 8-4, and ending the tournament on an ill-deserved bad note, having put in good performances against Hallam and ULU but failing to carry this through to the final game. The journey home was less eventful than the journey up, with most of the team opting for sleep instead of hilarious antics, although Biscuit caused a great deal of amusement when, after Russell had driven him across Newcastle to the train station, he discovered he had left some articles in the minibus back where they had started. Two trips across Newcastle later, Mr. Woolley was not a happy bunny, but we laughed. It had been a fun weekend. In The Next Issue Isle of man report – Gaz is given another bus to play with and is re-released on the unsuspecting Manx population. BUSA – Semis Men Win BUSA Shield