Round 1 finally kicked off in 2021 and brought much excitement. Our match summaries are brought to you by our players who give their first hand reports from the game.

Women’s Seniors

UHS-W 6.2.38 – Brunswick FC 1.6.12

Goal Kickers: Madeline Hince 5, Abbey Mills

Written by Madeline Hince + Isabella Lynch

The senior women’s game against Brunswick was a windy affair that started with Brunswick nabbing the first major. The first quarter was a tight battle mostly fought between the 50 metre arcs, with the UHS backline quickly locking down the advantage Brunswick had with the wind behind them. Some resolute tackling by Bella Lynch and Issy Conheady meant that the first quarter ended with Brunswick only bagging one goal.

UHS exploded into the second quarter with the midfielders dominating the play and using the wind behind them. Abbey Mills, Ella Keogh and Laura Zanin controlled the tempo and built a wall around Uni High’s forward 50, mounting considerable pressure on the Brunswick backline. UHS quickly piled on 4 goals, all thanks to our goal-kicking superstar Maddy Hince, to enter into half time with a 20-point lead.

The 3rd quarter was an arm wrestle with Brunswick using the wind to their advantage and peppering the goals. Meg Clerkin and Gretta Hankinson were generals in defence, rebounding Brunswick attacks with confidence and spoiling many marking opportunities for the brawny Brunswick attackers. A quick counter-attack spearheaded by Bridget Healey saw Uni High with a stoppage in their forward fifty, capitalising on their unyielding defensive efforts by popping in an against-the-play goal to see off the quarter 5 goals ahead.

The last quarter was characterised by repeated entries into Uni High’s forward fifty. Meg Pollock in ruck was dominant and on-ballers like Marlo Zambelli and Eliza Terrey reaped the rewards, firing bombs into the 50 as Brunswick became fatigued. UHS ran them off their feet and finished the game with one more goal and a 26-point lead.

Men’s Seniors

UHS-VU 4.6.30 – Marcellin 17.13.115

Goal Kickers: Patrick Brookes 2, Matt Dimattina, Michael Healey

Written by James Healey

Round 1 2021 brought excitement and fresh faces to the UHS Senior Men’s lineup. 7 players made their UHS debut on Saturday, congratulations and welcome to Noah Seiderman, Matt Dimattina, Tom Rocke, Patrick Brookes, Todd Cracknell, Kane Moroney and Aidan Cancian.

Kicking against the wind in the first quarter, the defence led by Todd Cracknell held strong for 10 minutes before Marcellin began to overwhelm the team with extra numbers piling forward. The Eagles managed to put on 4 goals with the strong breeze. Lucas Czajko went down early with a knee injury reducing the key forward options. Despite this, Michael Healey was able to run hard on to a ball over the top of the defence and kick truly for UHS’ first major of the season. The quarter ended with Marcellin on top 5.3 to 1.0.

The second quarter went much the same way with Marcellin managing to kick another 5 goals through accurate kicking across the ground. UHS were able to respond with 2 goals through first gamers Matt Dimattina and Patrick Brookes. Both goals were spirit lifting moments for the side on what was proving to be a tough day.

Marcellin took advantage of the strong wind in the third quarter to kick another 5 goals while keeping UHS goalless. The injury toll mounted as James Gilfillan went down, felled by a rogue elbow from the opposition. Lachie Allen and Jacob Best battled manfully in defence while James McGee and Ben Dimattina fought hard in the midfield to try and hold back strong opposition pressure but it did not prove to be enough as the margin blew out to 78 points at 3QT.

The rain came in the last quarter and the game became a tough slog, Patrick Brookes bobbed up for 1 more UHS goal while the defence brought the ball to ground and cleared the 50 to the talls waiting outside. Myles Legudi ran hard to be an option along the wing all day and was rewarded with several kicks in the final quarter. The final siren sounded to end what was a disappointing day for the Senior Men’s team, many lessons and improvements will come each week as we grow into the Premier C Section.

Women’s Reserves

UHS-W 3.6.24 – Brunswick FC 3.2.20

Goal Kickers: Liz Masden, Amelia Fawcett, Lucy-Sue Beukers

Written by Audrey Vandenberg

A fantastic start to the season for the UHS Womens Reserve Team. For many this was their first game, but they didn’t let that show! Despite the cold and the wind, our girls fought for the win against the Brunswick Renegades with a final result of 20-24 (3.2-20   3.6-24).

Big shout out to our goal kickers Lucy Beukers, Liz Masden and Amelia Fawcett who each scored one goal respectively. Another big congratulation to our best on field: team captain Annie Wilson, Kate Richardson, Amelia Fawcett, Maddy Stafford, Amy Lawrence and Lizzie Vairo.

All in all, it was a fantastic effort for both teams and great game of footy.

The reserves go on to play North Brunswick on Sunday the 18th of April on their home ground Brens Oval.

Men’s Reserves

UHS-VU 4.2.26 – Marcellin 16.13.109

Goal Kickers: Chris Berogna 2, Roy Girvan, Nik Sirko.

Written by Darcy Wall

Like every first game of the season there was plenty of pregame excitement and a bit of mystery about what lay ahead. UHS capitalised on that excitement with the first goal of the game and plenty of clearances in the first ten minutes. From there things got grim with Marcellin piling on goals and dominating UHS around the ground, in the end defeating UHS by 83 points.

Chris Berogna earned UHS some well fought goals through his hard work in the midfield and tough forward pressure, whilst Harry Hilliar was admirable in the ruck, few would be able tell it was his first game of footy (watch this space). The loss wasn’t without its injuries either, Captain Nick Wallace left the field half way through the second quarter with a fractured eye socket after laying a bruising tackle on Marcellin player you could only feel sorry for. Sadly it was Wal’s 100th game and first one back from a previous injury.  Josh Bourke also ended his game prematurely with a suspected MCL. The club wishes them both all the best and a speedy recovery.

From here UHS will only go up after taking plenty of learnings from the game.

Thirds

UHS-VU 1.3.9 – Glen Eira 11.16.82.

Goal Kickers: Leon Trinh

Written by Jacob Meehan

The Thirds had a tough slog at Glen Eira this weekend to start the season. But the true story of the day was the many promising debuts to pull on the Zoo Keeper safari suit, as well as a few fairy tale returns from some crusty veterans.

It was the Leon and Lewis show out of the middle, with promising debutant Leon Trinh a driving force in midfield. Leon was a bright spot on a dreary day and also leads the illustrious thirds goal kicking stakes after one week. He was assisted by Sheriff Cross in the guts while a roaming Brown Snake was spotted far from home on the wing, with fruitful returns on his journey from the depths of the backline up to the open plains.

Jumping Jack Sail added some excitement to the day, with many a big man seeing their arms disappear from before them as he sprung into a contest.

Former President and Friday call up Chris Marchio left his newborn child at home to provide a much needed spark to the forward line, continuing his form from previous years by spraying a sitter from a set shot. He and Ant showed the benefits of many decades of friendship working together up front in what will hopefully yield fruit for the Zoo Keepers in future weeks.

Congrats on debut go to Leon, Minho, Jemal, Corey, Alec and surely some more (Rajiv, Oscar) I can’t find the team sheet.