Most L4s arrived at ‘Wilby’ by 9-20am, as instructed by ourCaptain Hannah, with our yellow kit and shin pads on, all ready for the warm-up. 

Laurie was stuck in traffic with an ETA of 9:45am so when she eventually arrived, she was already a LOM frontrunner. But she was transporting her red velvet cake to share post-match in anticipation of her birthday on Halloween Sunday,and we were all quite excited about it (more on the cake later).

Conditions weren’t great when we started playing as a soft rain was falling and the wind was against us. But in the first half we played well with many nice passes in the mid-fieldbetween Ann, Bethan, Claudia, and Kea, that created good opportunities for our forwards Amelia, Emily, Erin, and Kath. We put a lot of pressure on our opponents and scored our first goal before the end of the first half. Following Kath’s perfect crossing from the right into the D, Erin, proud with her new stick, whacked it high into the net, giving the goalie no chance.

Half time it was 1-0 to us.

During the break coach Izzy gave us precious tips while we were all munching on vegan sweets (thanks Josh!). Time to re-start and Laurie forgot her stick by the goal, a distraction that confirmed her as LOM award winner!

As soon as the second half started, Nomads put pressure on us and eventually equalised. 

In the quarter that followed we lost a bit of focus, but our excellent defence with Hannah, Julie, Laurie, player of the match Rhian, and Shree, kept them from doing any damage. In that crucial time, our goalie Cassie made a superb save with her stick while diving to her right to deny them from scoring.

Our second goal was down to striker Emily who did a great run and scored a beautiful goal as soon as she entered the D: the ball went straight in, 2-1! Then, around five minutes before the end, Amelia ran down the right wing and whacked it over to sign the third goal.

Final score: 3-1 to us.

POM winner was Rhian with 4 votes, followed by Amelia, Erin, and Cassie, all with 3 votes each.

Fun facts:

-Just minutes before the start, a few of us heard Emily trying to persuade the (Nomads) umpire, who was wearing a yellow top, to wear a dark South bib, an idea that secured her one LOM vote. 

- POM Rhiann can write in verses even her POM and LOM nominations: “Amelia is my POM, her play is as sweet as stevia, she ran down the pitch and finished so swish. My LOM is Shree, oh Shree oh Shree, you won’t be saying cheese, with no teeth…” (Indeed, Shree got two LOM votes for coming to the match with the empty gum shield box).

- For the team picture, Kath’s attempts to co-ordinate the opening of the eyes in the midday sun did not work …at all. 

- Despite the post- transport damage and Laurie’s vain attempts to recompose it vigorously with her bare hands, her red velvet cake was gorgeous (see pic below), and we all enjoyed a slice at the post-match Teas. Thank you Laurie, and Happy Birthday!