ICSWP Men’s Water polo narrowly defeated in dying seconds

Tides are turning for ICSWP men’s water polo. Last Saturday Imperial faced a strong University of West England (UWE) side. With Imperial and UWE at opposite ends of the league table, and Imperial missing several key players, UWE were firm favourites coming into the fixture, but Imperial came with an unflappable attitude.

Both sides began cautiously, with neither side wanting to give away easy goals and the focus very much on defence. The first quarter ended with UWE edging the match slightly, winning 3-2. As the second quarter progressed, Imperial’s fears before the game were becoming a reality with UWE scoring several goals without any response from Imperial. UWE’s tactics were getting the better of Imperial, with chance after chance being created and being wasted with bad shots and worse decisions (editor’s note: like a night in Metric). By half time Imperial were lucky to only be losing 7-3 after some excellent saves by the stand-in goalkeeper David Moores.

With the third quarter beginning, it was clear Imperial were not willing to give up and would fight to get themselves back into the game. This was led by captain Sam Hanrahan and vice-captain Ramon Fernandez-Mir scoring four goals between them in quick succession. There were some emotional celebrations from Ramon, and he dedicated his goals to Christina Duckworth.

“Imperial continued to push and with just 15 seconds left on the clock Alberto Lauri scored bringing us level”

As the final quarter began the situation looked bleak for Imperial with the score very much in UWE’s favour and centre back Gian Ameri majored out, no longer being able to take part in the game. With only two minutes left to play UWE scored to go three goals into the lead, making any possibility of Imperial achieving a result seem near to impossible. However, Imperial had other ideas, once again showing their determination to get a result. Andrew Duckworth, still on a high after becoming an Irish citizen only hours before the game, began the comeback scoring and bringing Imperial closer to UWE. This was continued when Leo Pashov, on his return from injury, scored. Imperial continued to push and with just 15 seconds left on the clock Alberto Lauri scored bringing us level. The fans went wild, this had to be it, Imperials first points of the season. Imperial went to press hard and allow no passes to be made as UWE had one last attack. They launched the ball up to their centre forward and with the rest of the team watching on in despair, he scored the winning goal with just 5 seconds left. What had looked to be one of sport’s greatest ever comebacks faltered, failed, and UWE won.

Despite the immediate deflation of such a loss, this was the best performance of the season for the team and it is important that the positives are taken from the game. Imperial will travel to Bristol on Saturday to face UWE again, they will bring the same steely-eyed determination to get the first W of the season.