Saints Water Polo make it a clean-sweep Wednesday
Saints Women’s Water Polo made it five wins in a row to consolidate their position at the top of the British Universities Premier League. Saints travelled to Manchester for the second week in a row, after a strong challenge last week from Manchester Metropolitan University, the faced University of Manchester, but it was to turn out to be a very one-sided affair with Saints cruising to a 29-0 and top spot in the Premier league. Saints started the game really well putting Manchester under pressure and attacking with pace and precision. Ruby Versfeld scored four times, with doubles from Sarah Kreiser and Bekah Kaufman taking the score to 10-0 at the end of the first. Saints used the opportunity to try new tactics in the second however the goals still kept coming with Lauren Charter, Meg Hedrick and Kate Mackie adding their name to the scoresheet as Saints went into half time at 15-0. Period three saw Bekah Kaufman add three goals to her tally for a season high 6 goals in the game. Saints goalkeeper Rylan Scott was no spectator making a total of eight saves as she shut out Manchester for the entire game. Saints now face Durham at home in the biggest game of the season as they try to take another step towards retaining the Premier League title.
Saints were: Rylan Scott, Ruby Versfeld, Sarah Kreiser, Lauren Charter, Caitlin Donnelly, Meg Hedrick, Kate Mackie and Bekah Kaufman.
On Wednesday Saints Women’s 1A team travelled to Aberdeen for their match against Robert Gordon University.
The saints started strong with a goal in the first minute from fresher Lidia Toth. Captain Brynn Walsh showed her skill with two further goals to follow this. RGU fought back and put St Andrews on edge with a goal making the score 3-1. However further goals from Brynn, Maya Weerasinghe, Caitlin Boyne and Amelia Downs secured the Saints a strong lead of 6-1 at the end of the first quarter.
The half-deep pool meant it was time to switch sides before starting the second quarter. Fresher Sarah Booher won the swim off in her debut match for Saints Water Polo and further goals from Brynn and Caitlin took the score to a 9-1 St Andrews advantage at the half.
Within less than 30 seconds of starting the third quarter goalie Maya Srinivasan had shown that she was multi-talented by scoring a goal when in field. This was followed by a goal from RGU, but their victory didn’t last long as Lydia, Brynn, Caitlin, and Ruby Brown also found the back of the net, ending the third quarter with a strong score of 15-2 to the Saints.
The Saints defence was very strong in the final quarter and a further 3 goals from Brynn and one from each of Ruby, Sarah, and both Mayas meant that St Andrews finished the game with a strong lead of 22-3, retaining their second place in the league tables.
Saints were: Maya Srinivasan, Amelia Fletcher, Maya Weerasinghe, Amelia Downs, Caitlin Boyne, Ruby Brown, Brynn Walsh, Sarah Booher, Lidia Toth and Kiki Szemraj.
