Issue 1247 - The Courier

Th eCourier Tuesday 6 March 2012
2012StanCalvert.11
Poly loss
Double figures and double delight
for Waterpolo after convincing wins
Newcastle’s swim team
were humbled by Northumbria,
despite some
promising individual
performances
Photography:
Laura Anne Brown
Stan Calvert
Cup 2012
WOMEN’S WATERPOLO
Newcastle 1sts
Northumbria 1sts
By Tom Connolly
at UNN SPORT CENTRAL
19
2
Northumbria Sport Central was the
venue for the Men’s and Ladies 1st
team Waterpolo matches on Friday
evening. Although Newcastle were in
the Poly’s backyard they were positive
in their approach to the matches and
confident they would be able to embarrass
them as they had the previous
season, which was the first time they
had played in this competition.
The ladies were the first to play and
although they had been knocked out
of the BUCS semi-finals the weekend
previously, they were fired up for this
derby match. The Poly’s only joy of the
match came in the opening minute as
they nicked the opener, but it was to be
all downhill from there on for Northumbria
as a long range screamer from
Newcastle’s Nikki Powley to level the
match was followed by a counter attacking
goal for Scot Kat McDowall to
take the lead. Powley added another
before the break meaning the Royals
were 3-1 up at the end of the first
quarter.
With only a two goal cushion, the
well drilled Newcastle began to extend
their lead with clinical counter
attacks giving further goals for
McDowall, swimmer Annie Byrne,
Finnish Hanna Ratilainen and team
junior Hannah Daglish. This unstoppable
attack combined with unbeatable
defence produced a 7-1 lead at
halftime. The third quarter was much
of the same as the Poly managed to
double their tally, but McDowall and
Powley once again proved worthy in
attack by adding their third each of
the game. Daglish also struck gold to
take the score to 10-2 going into the
final quarter. It was here that the super
fit Newcastle really showed the
Poly how tier one waterpolo is played
as the clinical McDowall bagged another
four alongside a further two for
Christina Zacharia and one each for
Byrne and Ratilainen. It fell to veteran
Lauri Simkiss to seal the deal producing
a solid 19-2 victory for the Royals.
Player of the match was Kat McDowall
whose powerful offensive play produced
seven goals for the Scot.
Stan Calvert
Cup 2012
MEN’S WATERPOLO
Newcastle 1sts
Northumbria 1sts
By Tom Connolly
at UNN SPORT CENTRAL
26
11
With the home crowd silenced by the
ladies result, Newcastle men knew
they could and must do the same.
The match got underway and within
twenty seconds captain Stuart Mac
Manus opened the scoring however
shortly after the Poly also got off the
mark to level the scores. With a point
to prove Newcastle player, but ex-
Northumbria captain Mark Gabrielle,
picked up a sin-bin for a reckless challenge
but quickly proved his worth by
regaining the lead shortly after reentry.
Another for Mac Manus saw the
Royals pull two goals ahead but a sinbin
for Ralph Baker gave the Poly a
chance to score to get back into the
match which was followed by another
from their captain to level the scores
3-3. From here Newcastle knew they
had to put the foot down and with
goals from playmaker Luke Watkins,
future captain Mike Grantham and
team junior Josh Baldwin, they did
not look back. The Poly managed to
scrape one back before the end of the
first quarter to leave the score 6-4 to
Newcastle.
The second quarter belonged to
Grantham whose powerful attacking
play saw him pick up a hattrick
within two minutes. The home side
could only manage one of their own
before Grantham once again rippled
the back of the net. Another for the
Poly captain was outshone by an emphatic
finish by Newcastle captain
Mac Manus. Golden boy Grantham
picked up a sin-bin, giving the Poly a
chance to grab another, but on re-entry
Grantham slotted home his sixth
of the match. Now came the time for
Gordon Pearson, whose terrier like
approach saw him on the end of two
crosses, both of which he converted
with style. Once again the 9Poly got the
last of the quarter giving Won a half time
Mountain Bikers share the spoils
score of 15-7.
With an eight goal lead all Newcastle
could do now was to capitalise on an
already textbook performance. This
was exemplified early in the third as
Mac Manus scored from a perfectly
implemented man-up play. The Poly
hit back just 16 seconds later which
was to be their last of the quarter
whilst Newcastle pushed on with two
goals from Gabrielle, who was really
turning the screw, another each
for shooters Mac Manus and Grantham,
and a debut Stan Calvert goal
for fresher Ben Hughes, giving them a
21-8 lead going into the final quarter.
With the introduction of substitute
goalkeeper Nathan Taylor, for first
string ‘keeper James Hillmen, Newcastle
knew they were already over the
finishing line. A relentless Grantham
once again scored two in quick succession,
followed by another for the
clinical Gabrielle. The Poly got another
conciliation goal and a ball under
from Taylor gave them a penalty and
another goal. Grantham took his opportunity
to take his tally to 10, which
brought about aggravation from the
Poly supporters, which helped sway
the referee’s decision in giving Mac
Manus his third sin-bin of the match
disallowing him from re-entry. The
Poly captain scored their last of the
match but there was still time for
veteran Watkins to finish the scoring
giving Newcastle a convincing 26-11
win.
The MVP for the men was awarded
to the powerful Grantham who, inspired
by McDowall’s performance
for the ladies, bettered her score to
produce 10 goals, a Stan Calvert Waterpolo
record, an unbelievable show
of technique, especially at this level.
NUSSC
McKenchie, Chris Thompson and
Heidi Parker.
The First team’s race was a little closer,
but inevitably Newcastle still came
out with a convincing win thanks to
the performances of captain Alex Abbott,
president Hannah Parker, Martin
Trotter, Chris Penrose and Toby
Hughes. The regional dry slope and
indoor skiing champions showed no
complacency as they convincingly
won out against a despondent Northumbria
team.
After this strong performance, as
well as recent victories at Kings Dry
Slope and BUISC indoor championships,
NUSSC are confident of a
strong performance at the upcoming
British Uni Snowsports Champs under
the watchful eye of their captain
Alex Abbott.
Stan Calvert
Cup 2012
MOUNTAIN BIKING
Newcastle 1sts
Northumbria 1sts
By Ali Masson
at HAMSTERLEY FOREST
Having gained a convincing victory
in last year’s Stan Calvert encounter
with a significantly weaker team,
confidence amongst the Newcastle
Cross Country team was high before
the race. And with Northumbria only
able to field five racers, it looked set to
be Newcastle’s day.
However, a late appearance from a
lycra-clad team Great Britain racer
significantly raised the standard of
the competition.
The race began with a mass start on
the four cross track with Sam Sharp
taking an early but short-lived lead
while a Northumbria rider was left
behind with what he initially feared
to be a spinal injury but proved only
to be a grazed elbow.
From then on the race for first place
was a close battle between Henry
Smurt and the Northumbria team GB
1
1
racer. Aiken Harrap and James Robinson
followed closely behind.
Ultimately first place was taken by
the Northumbria rider but positions
two to eight were all taken by Newcastle
resulting in a win with a final
score of 51 to 21 points.
The Downhill team however had
more of a battle on their hands and
needed to step it up a level to compete
for a win against Northumbria’s more
experienced team. After a recent dry
spell the track was running fast with
a healthy dose of technical sections
ready to catch out anybody with a
momentary lapse of concentration.
On the first of two race runs Krzysztof
Dabrowski was fastest of the
Newcastle riders but was sitting third
overall behind two Of Northumbria’s
riders. Krzysztof managed to knock
a couple of seconds off his time on
his second run but his third place
was snatched by 0.8 of a second by a
Northumbria rider. Gaz Hughes and
Tristan Tinn put in some solid runs to
take fifth and sixth place respectively.
Ali Masson managed to hold it together
for a second run after a big
crash in his first run, taking seventh
place in the end.
Simon Wilkins had a lot of weight on
his shoulders after being Newcastle’s
fastest rider the previous year. Unfortunately,
it didn’t quite come together
this year and an incident with a tree in
his second run meant he was left with
his first run time and a respectable
eighth place overall. Josh Lodge took
tenth place, which left Northumbria
to claim the last two places.
The total scores were very close with
Newcastle’s team went to
extreme lengths to secure
points against Northumbria,
putting their bodies
on the line.
Photography: Newcastle
Biking Club
Northumbria just edging a win by 40
points to 38, which meant two Stan
Calvert points apiece from the day.