Water Polo News

Water Polo News

Last Saturday was the final round for most teams for Term 4. It was a competitive round of matches across the day for Trinity with matches played against Newington College and The Scots College. The highlights of the day were the Trinity teams playing in three semi-finals of the Combined School Competitions. The 1st VII and 16As played Newington at Newington Pool and the 2nd VII played Scots at the Trinity Centenary Pool. The 1sts and 16As matches were both intense, nail-biting matches with both matches going down to the wire with the crowd on the edge of their seats. Fortunately, Trinity triumphed in both matches and will now play in the Grand Finals this coming Saturday at Cranbrook Pool. Unfortunately, the 2nd VII were unable to overcome a tough Scots team and will play Knox Grammar School in the third place playoff this Saturday. This weekend, both the 1sts and 16As compete for the Combined Schools Championships. The 1st VII Trinity team will be playing St Joseph’s College who upset Knox Grammar School in the semi-final. If you click here you can see the past winners of the competition. You will notice that Trinity has only ever won the competition three times, with the last time in 2006. Good luck to the teams competing this Saturday!

Team Opponent Result Score
1STS NEWINGTON WIN 8 – 7
2NDS SCOTS LOSS 4 – 11
3RDS SCOTS WIN 7 – 5
4THS SCOTS LOSS 3 – 8
16A NEWINGTON WIN 9 – 5
16B NEWINGTON WIN 9 – 4
15A SCOTS WIN 8 – 6
15B BYE
14A SCOTS LOSS 4 – 5
14B SCOTS LOSS 3 – 9

Seamus Rodden | Director of Water Polo

 

CAS/GPS FINALS – FIRST TIME IN 16 YEARS

This weekend both the 1st VII and the 16As will battle it out to be CAS/GPS Premiership Champions. Last weekend’s games saw both teams play and defeat the notoriously strong Newington College teams on their home ground. With the 16As, Trinity delivered a strong 9-5 victory. The 1sts game was much closer, with a score line of 7-8. This game was a nail biter with our boys being able to come back and win after being down at the beginning of the last quarter. This upcoming grand final weekend will see our 1st VII playing St. Joseph’s College who are a strong physical team and will bring a large crowd, given a large number of their students are boarders. They will also put in a massive effort to beat us, seeing as though they have nothing to lose,  so it would be great if we could match their noise and intensity pool side with a strong Trinity presence. This is the first opportunity our school has had to win this title since 2006. The 16As will be facing off against a strong Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore) team who have also remained undefeated for the season so far. This should be a great game as both teams are strong and hungry to bring the championship home to their school. These games will be tightly contested games and should be great to watch. I believe that if we can produce a large Trinity crowd for both games it could be the motivation each team needs to make history and bring home this prestigious title.

Harper Stewart | Captain of Water Polo

 

1ST VII | WIN 8-7

Saturday marked the Semi Final of the combined GPS/CAS Water Polo championship. Trinity were hungry and driven to stay in the competition and keep their season alive, fighting off a strong Newington College team determined to retain their title for the seventh consecutive year. Despite the very tight score line, Trinity proved to be the more composed and clinical team with our experienced and senior players stepping up to the occasion. Goal scores included Lucas Blythe (11La) with three goals, Lucas Young (11We) scoring two and Harper Stewart (11St), Ashwin Sivapirabu (11Hi) and Liam Rippon (11La) respectively scoring a goal each. Trinity’s defence was strong, limiting Newington, a notoriously strong attacking side, to only seven goals and it was this consistent defence that ultimately paved the way for our 8-7 victory. 

Every team member put in maximum effort and executed their role. This will need to continue as we head to the Grand Final this weekend against St Jospehs. Trinity 1st VII will have to be at the top of their game this weekend if they want to outplay a physical St Joseph’s team and take home the championship title. The final will be a high energy game with Trinity seeking to regain the combined GPS/CAS Water Polo championship title for the first time in 16 years! I would like to extend my thanks on behalf of the team to all the Trinity Staff who have shown their support to the Trinity 1st V11 team this season. A special mention to Mr Barr who has shown his support and dedicated his time to the Water Polo program for many years now and is yet to miss a game this season regardless of the location.The support shown by the Head Master, Mr Bowden, Mr Barr, Mr Rodden and the coaching staff of Mr Bonca and Mr Hamill, has ultimately paved the way for our team’s current success. We hope to make you all proud this weekend and win the championship title. 

Lucas Young | 1st VII Captain

 

2ND VII | LOSS 4-11

Trinity were defeated 11 goals to four against The Scots College. The day started poorly with no referees being allocated to this game, making it a tense game with Scots and Trinity sharing the responsibilities in light of a lack of qualified and neutral referees for a Semi-Final match. Whilst there was no hint of bias by either referee, the game was played with, at times, scant regard to many of the rules of the game, and on occasions, one could have been forgiven for thinking they were watching a wrestling match rather than a Water Polo game. The strong Scots team coped with this far better than Trinity and clearly ran out deserved winners. Whilst the refereeing did not influence the outcome of the game, it certainly exacerbated the score line with Trinity finding it difficult to score with the opposition’s physicality. Best for Trinity were Bailey Martin (11We), who really did  cope very well with Scots’ physicality, and Sam Foung (12Sc), who initially had some difficulty coping with the physical nature of the game, but did lift and compete well. Goal scorers for Trinity were Finn Ramanuskas (12Ke) with three goals and Zachariah Alshehabi (11Du).

Ray Swinnerton | Coach

 

3RD VII | WIN 7-5

On Saturday, the 3rd VII battled it out against a strong The Scots College opposition with Trinity ultimately being victorious 7-5. Jonah De Groot (11Ar) led from the front with an impressive display of offence, netting three goals and contributing to much of the team’s attacking prowess. In defence, both goalkeepers Evan Tong (12Fo) and Callum Robinson (11WJ) lead the team from the back, organising the defence and making key saves to help bring the team earn their victory. Two goals from centre-forward Xavier Alfonso (11We), and one goal each from James Barnes-Ferguson (11Ke) and Sebastian Green (11Ta) helped ensure the victory. Congratulations to everyone in the 3rd VII  for a great result to finish the season.

Chris Artemi | Coach

 

 4TH VII | LOSS 3-8

The 4th VII have shown great courage and disciplined teamwork against The Scots College last Saturday. The improvement throughout the season is more than obvious. We had some very good setups and a really active and efficient defence. The first half of the match was very balanced between the two teams. It must be noted that one opposition player who was outstanding joined the match and he played exceptionally well, winning the game for the opposition. Still, our 4ths kept up with a disciplined playing attitude, thus creating some opportunities to score. The shots are getting better, but it is still something to work on. We had great will and team spirit in the pool!

Gergely Malyusz | Coach

 

16A | WIN 9-5

The 16As match against Newington College was a very intense Semi-Final match with both sides involved in defensive, one-on-one attacking actions. The players put in a great effort as a united team. As the season has progressed, greater effort has been put into training and matches so we are ready for the Grand Final this Saturday. Throughout the game, the Newington side pressed strongly, making the game somewhat uncomfortable for Trinity. However, because of our stronger defence and attacking, we were able to sustain strong counter attacks and this enabled the team to score. All the players assisted throughout the game, with special mention to our goalkeeper, Matty Weston (10Ta) for his efforts, as well as Hudson Myliotis (9Yo), Taj Young (9We) and Benjamin Sulyok (10Sc).  

Florin Bonca | Coach

 

16B | WIN 9-4

The 16Bs had a dominant win over Newington College’s 16Bs team with our team displaying the continued strength built upon throughout the season. The game started out with an even playing field with only one goal a side being scored in the first quarter with Enrico Ciarroni (10WJ) scoring. The second quarter saw the boys fight hard to build a lead against Newington with goals scored by Benjamin Hanna (10Ho) and Jacob Michail (10Hi), with the score at 3-1 at the halfway mark of the game. However, we dominated in the third quarter by scoring five goals from Jacob Michail (10Hi), Tom Huber (10We), Enrico Ciarroni (10WJ), and two goals by Marcus Mastro (10Mu). This gave our team a confident seven goal lead going into the final quarter. The boys did become slightly complacent within the final quarter as they had confidently secured the win, and this saw only two more goals being scored by Marcus Mastro (10Mu) and Gabe Stavropolous (10WH). Whilst the Newington boys were able to score four goals, this resulted in the final score being 10-5 to Trinity. The boys should be proud of their efforts with this strong performance for their last game of the season.

Oscar Jones | Coach

 

15A | WIN 8-6

In the last game for the year for the 15As, Trinity ran out winners 8-6 against The Scots College. The game was a close affair with the quarter time score of 1-0 to Trinity, then a half time score of four all and a three-quarter time score of 6-5 to Scots, but a 3-0 final period gave victory to Trinity. Best for Trinity were Dylan Bell (9Hi), who swam his heart out in both attack and defence scoring two goals; Michael Sotiropoulos (9St), who also swam exceptionally well in both attack and defence and scored his first goal this season; and Carlo Furlan (9Du) who positioned himself well scoring three goals. Yet again, a mention must be made of Charlie Tuelon (9Ar) who made a number of fine saves in goals. The other goal scorers were Ryan Hoang (9Ta) and Will Jenkins (9Hi) with one each. The Trinity team have continued to show improvement in their Water Polo over the past weeks and here’s hoping the players remember what they have learned over the school break and carry this improvement into next year.

Ray Swinnerton | Coach

 

14A | LOSS 4-5

This game against The Scots College was one of the most intense of the season with the 14As suffering their first defeat of the season. It is not a bad thing to lose a game as it allows the team to reflect and learn from the experience. The Scots 14As put together a very strong defensive game with close pressing and our players had a hard time dealing with this. The game was equal in score up until the last few minutes and we lost the game four goals to five. The boys should be proud, having fought to the last seconds of the game. Despite the loss, the team has played very well this season.

Florin Bonca | Coach

 

14B | LOSS 3-9

A game can be more physical than what we got used to and this is what we discovered last Saturday against The Scots College. How to react under more pressure is a skill we have to practice and learn how to react to. With the Scots team there was one player who stood out significantly, not only with strength and skills, but in size as well. He made the real difference between the two teams. The Trinity resilience has to be emphasized, even though the outcome was clear in the second half. We did not give up and kept trying to set up attacks with some success. We got to their goals but our shots were not powerful and targeted enough. Well done on a great season though for the 14Bs.

Gergely Malyusz | Coach

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