2004-05 Season Report Oxford’s Ladies Sink Cambridge

1. 2004-05 Season Report Oxford’s Ladies Sink Cambridge Oxford started their varsity match very nervously, and Cambridge scored in the first 27 seconds from a man-up attack. They followed this with another goal 3 minutes later and managed to effectively block Oxford’s early attempts. Oxford’s first goal was finally delivered from the wing by Robin Cornuelle, when Oxford was man up and it ended up 2-2. The first quarter was dogged by both major and minor fouls but these problems were ironed out in the second quarter and good work from goalie, Paula Croxson (Captain), kept Oxford ahead. The swift shot from the wing became Cornuelle’s speciality, as she completed a hat-trick and brought Oxford into the lead. Cambridge snatched a sneaky goal on the counter-attack after Oxford was left in confusion over whether the ball crossed Cambridge’s goal line. Oxford swiftly got their own back, capitalising on the next attempt by Cambridge to score, and a smooth counter-attack led Anne Hagen to put the ball safely in the net. With Hagen sufficiently warmed-up, her skills began to shine. A second time Hagen whipped the ball from Cambridge’s possession and passed it down the line to Cornuelle who went on to score her fourth goal of the evening and Oxford’s fifth. With 18 seconds left of the second quarter, Hagen netted another goal from pit. The third quarter saw Cambridge reduce the deficit with another quick goal, similar to that in the first quarter, 30 seconds into play. Croxson’s made a stunning double save but was rendered helpless a third shot and the gap between the scores was closing at 6-5. Jess Radford upped the score with a nice back-shot straight into the goal from the pit. Unfortunately Hagen was wrapped up after an unlucky foul and the quarter ended with a one point difference between the teams once again, despite Oxford continuing to have the majority of possession. A minute into the final quarter and victory seemed to be slipping away for the dark blues as Cambridge sneaked in another two goals. However Oxford’s thirst for winning was too strong and Cambridge began to fall behind again. Stephanie Niven, Becky Farrands who scored her second, and Lauren Whitmore all scored in the last few minutes to lead Oxford to a conclusive 11-8 win. Cambridge down fighting Oxford Oxford’s men’s team travelled to Cambridge for the Varsity match looking to avenge last year’s last-gasp defeat. It looked to be a tall order, given their 4-2 loss just a fortnight previously at home, but they started very brightly and roared into a 2-0 lead after five minutes of the first quarter. Captain Stephen Harrison perfectly picked out Matt Fox as he drove into the pit, and a fine finish left no chance for the Cambridge goalkeeper. The second goal was from a counter-attack by Tom Finlay, and as they returned to the centre the Light Blues were visibly rocked. However, a splendid snap shot from a free throw from about 9 metres flew into the net and gave them confidence, and the scores were level by the end of the quarter thanks to another long range shot from the top of the arc. Another cause for concern was that Richard Thomson was by this time perilously close to being rolled after committing two majors in the pit. Disappointingly, Oxford struggled to establish themselves attacking the shallow end and found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-2 half-time scoreline, after again committing too many majors. Thomson was finally wrapped up at the start of the third quarter, although he was very unlucky to be ejected as he was seemingly yards away from the attacker out on the left wing. Kit McDonald pulled one back from an Oxford man-up but Cambridge continued to dominate and accelerated into a 9-3 lead. They had two players ejected simultaneously at the very end of the third quarter, but the Dark Blues were unable to exploit this as they lost the swim-off at the start of the fourth. Matt Fox was also wrapped early in this last quarter, making matters even harder. In the end, Cambridge fully deserved their 13-3 victory, and could have scored more were it not for some truly unbelievable shot-stopping by Rob Schumann in the Oxford goal. Nevertheless, the Dark Blues fought to the end, and made their opponents work hard for victory.

2. Magdalen Clinch Inaugural Cuppers Win Magdalen college triumphed in the first-ever water-polo cuppers competition, just beating St Peters/Hildas in a dramatic final. They won their group comfortably, edging out pre-tournament favourites Teddy Hall 5-4 and then beating Pembroke and Oriel comfortably. Brasenose qualified to play them in the semi-finals, courtesy of a 3-2 victory over Jesus in the group stage. Finding themselves 2-1 behind at half-time, they were thankful for Tom Finlay’s inspired play in the second half to lead them out of trouble. Somerville/Merton qualified for the semis thanks to a close 2-1 win over St Catz, Anthony McDonald shooting both goals to overcome a half-time deficit. They played Peters/Hildas in the semi in a match which was decided by a tense penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw. Goalkeeper Dan Lowther was the sudden-death hero, coolly scoring Peters’ seventh penalty himself before returning to his goal to save Somerville/Merton’s effort. Magdalen crushed Brasenose 6-1 in their semi-final, thanks in a large part to five goals from Tim Smith. The final, though, was a much closer affair. Smith, who finished as the tournament top goalscorer with fifteen goals, and captain Chris Guelff fired Magdalen into a 2-0 half-time lead. Peters/Hildas fought back and scored through Niven Bull to set up a nailbiting finale. With four seconds remaining on the clock, the Blues and Peters/Hildas captain Stephen Harrison made a shot which looked destined for the bottom corner, but it was turned aside by Rob Schumann, the classy Magdalen ‘keeper. The final score was 2-1 to Magdalen, the cuppers champions. In total, fourteen teams from seventeen colleges took part, marking a successful and highly enjoyable inaugural cuppers event. Ladies top BUSA group A strong intake of new players, and a number of good performances in friendly matches meant the women's team was feeling confident of success before meeting Warwick, Cambridge and London in the first round of the BUSA Championship. In the opening match against the reigning champions Warwick, Oxford were keen to put their home advantage to good use. A storming first quarter saw six goals without response, with Jess Radford, Becky Farrands and Anne Hagen scoring two a piece for Oxford. In the second quarter Lauren Whitmore and Anne continued the onslaught and a strong press in defence continued to prevent Warwick from forming an attack on goal. A few lapses in concentration on Oxford's part allowed Warwick to add to the scoresheet in the second half of the match, but a strong performance from captain and goalkeeper Paula Croxson, meant that they never really got back into contention and the eventual score of 12-5 was a good reflection of Oxford's dominance. The much anticipated match against Cambridge started badly for the home side, as the light blues scored three quick goals in succession. Oxford improved their defence in the second period of play, conceding just one goal, but this still left them trailing by four goals at half time. However, the second half could have been from a different game, as a period of determined play resulted in goals for Oxford from Robin Cornuelle, Jess and Marcelle Olivier. The score was soon levelled but Oxford's inability to score from their numerous man ups prevented them from capitalising on a period of dominance in the later stages of the match, which was frustratingly close for the home crowd. The final score was 6-6, and this suggests an exciting varsity match in February. The final group match against London (who were also finalists in last years BUSA competition) took place one week later, with Oxford looking for victory to finish top of the group and ensure progression to the semi-finals. Oxford began confidently and quickly stamped their authority on the match with goals coming thick and fast. A tired-looking London side struggled to respond and at half time the score was 7-0. Although the match became slightly more scrappy in the closing stages the 12-5 win was well deserved, and put Oxford comfortably at the top of their group. Oxford are now looking forward to the next round, and hopes are high that their form will see them through to the finals in Nottingham in March.

3. Men’s BUSA disappointment The Oxford Men’s team, BUSA finalists last year, were knocked out of the tournament in the first round. In a tough group containing Cambridge, Loughborough and London, the team desperately needed a good start against Loughborough since they knew that it would be nigh on impossible to beat London. Sadly, they trailed 3-0 after the first quarter as a result of too many sloppy errors and this became 8-0 at half-time. However, in the third quarter Oxford improved every aspect of their play, and really began to attack the Loughborough goal. Four goals without reply for the Dark Blues, three from Matt Fox and one from Tom Finlay, reduced the deficit to 4-8, and raised hopes of an unlikely fightback. However, these were snuffed out in the final quarter, which Loughborough closed out for a 10-4 victory. The match against London was predictably one-sided. Despite a fighting performance from Oxford, they were not good enough to overcome a London team who had beaten Loughborough earlier in the day. The final score was 13-3, with goals scored by Kit McDonald, Gaz Davies and Christian Luebbe. Oxford therefore hosted Cambridge in January, needing a victory to stave off relegation to the shield competition. They made a poor start to the game, and despite a close-range save by goalkeeper Rob Schumann, they were soon trailing 1-0. However, Oxford slowly began to retain the ball better in attack and to win it from Cambridge by virtue of strong defensive marking. First Matt Fox was released by captain Stephen Harrison, but could only shoot straight at the goalkeeper, and then shortly before the end of the quarter Richard Thomson fired home from an extra-man attack. The second and third quarters were again dominated by a tight defensive press, leading to few chances for either side and no goals at all. Oxford perhaps had marginally the better chances, with shots from Tom Finlay, Matt Fox and Richard Thomson being well saved by the Cambridge keeper. They also had two close-range shots blocked by Schumann, and were halted by the defence in three man-up attacks. The quarter ended with Oxford winning a penalty, but Finlay could not convert the chance. Oxford started the decisive final quarter on the attack, but Cambridge captain Carlos stole the ball and swam the length of the pool only for his first and second shots to be unbelievably blocked by Schumann. The ball again rebounded to him and he buried his third effort. This was followed by a vicious shot from distance and Oxford were suddenly trailing 3-1. This became 4-1 when Cambridge scored a man-up attack and although a late goal from Matt Fox gave fleeting hope, Oxford ultimately lost 4-2 and as a result have been relegated to the shield competition for next year. Old Members’ News Please feel free to visit the club’s website at http://users.ox.ac.uk/~wpolo. This contains results and match reports for our matches this season, and details of all upcoming fixtures. This will be the last edition of the newsletter to be mailed out. In future it will be e-mailed to old members, and published, along with back issues, on the Old Members’ section of the website.We would therefore be very grateful if old members would send their e-mail addresses to Kit (kitmcdonald@yahoo.com) so that we can continue to involve them with developments in the club. The traditional Michaelmas term Freshers’ curry. Travellers’ Tales by the Men’s Team We travelled to Warwick for our first away game, starting the match unprepared because of our late arrival – bus driver Chris Guelff got lost en route. We lost 8-5, despite inspired play by our star fresher Matt Fox. We also lost the traditional post-match boat race. Gaz Davies, who readers of the last issue may remember from his Isle of Man exploits, was the guilty party. Anchoring the team, he was unable to down his pint of Guinness. On the trip home, Chris Guelff realigned a McDonalds drive-thru sign with the minibus and we were then forced to abandon 9 McDonalds meals at the counter because they didn’t accept card payment, before finding dinner at KFC. Our next away match was in Cardiff. We hadn’t won there for many years, and our squad of 8 looked woefully inadequate against Cardiff’s 19 players. However, with an inspired performance we snatched a famous 7-5 victory. Sadly, this feat could not be matched in London, who were a superior team and ran out 15-3 winners.