Narrow miss for Kearsney water polo team
The school's first team had a close encounter against their rivals, Clifton, at the weekend.
KEARSNEY College’s 1st water polo team played a nail-biting final game of the season against Clifton on Saturday.
The two sides were finalists in a recent top 10 tournament that ended in a draw after full time and that saw Clifton claim the win during the penalty shootout.
Kearsney scored the first goal through its, Tyson Andrews. This was quickly cancelled out by a score from Clifton. The teams then traded goals regularly but Kearsney’s goalkeeper, Brett van Noordwyk, kept his team in the race with some excellent saving. Kearsney’s Wesley Marshall scored two superb goals to head into the break 3 – 3.
The 2nd chukka was tight and neither team was able to break the deadlock for the first six minutes. Kearsney’s 1st choice centre back, Oscar Burgess-Barker, was out through injury and things looked ominous when his stand in, Tom Carmody, had to leave the water for medical attention after a blow to the eye. This only seemed to invigorate the Grade 9 learner as, once he returned, he had an excellent game as he stole the ball virtually at will from senior players. Clifton edged ahead 4 -3, but it Kearsney struck back with a goal from Luke Ambler-Smith, followed by two counter-attack goals for Clifton to keep them at 6 – 4 ahead at half-time.
The 3rd chukka started well for Clifton as they scored first and pushed them three goals clear. It looked as if the momentum had shifted their way. Kearsney Wesley had different ideas and scored his third goal. Clifton struck back, but Kearsney simply would not lie down and scored twice with Ambler-Smith completing his brace. Kearsney were back in the game. Unfortunately for them, Clifton scored from a well-taken extra man, to finish the chukka 9 – 7 ahead.
Once again the teams were deadlocked for the first half of the final chukka. A cheeky effort from Tom broke the deadlock but it was quickly cancelled out by another from Clifton. Tyson netted his second to keep Kearsney in the hunt at 11 – 9. Clifton were fortunate to claim a penalty from a technicality and took the score to 12-9, with a minute to play. Tyson completed his hat-trick but it was in vain as Clifton ran out as the winners with 12 -10.
Despite the loss, Kearsney can be pleased with an excellent performance by its young team against one of the top schoolboy teams in the country. Three of the four chukkas were drawn and Kearsney have never scored more goals against Clifton before.
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