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Photos: Philip Mourdijs
York’s women’s water polo team fought admirably in the first Roses test event, but could not prevent themselves slipping to three defeats in the BUCS Northern 2B tournament on Saturday.
It was the team’s first event of the year, held in the new York Sport Village swimming pool.
York’s first opponents of the afternoon were Northumbria but the hosts went down 4-3 in a nail-biting encounter.
Northumbria took an early lead but Sophie Gorman equalised, thrashing the ball into the corner from Louise Highton’s pass.
The away side edged back ahead 2-1 but once again York responded through Highton and the scores were tied.
After Carter gave York the lead, goalkeeper Anne Churchfield made some stunning saves, but Northumbria completed a superb counter attack to level matters at 3-3, before scoring in the last minute.
York were again impressive in their second match, although a very strong Liverpool side eventually claimed an 8-4 victory.
The Merseysiders took the lead in the first minute but York reversed their advantage, as Gillian Jago and Hannah Carter slammed home, before the ubiquitous Highton scored again.
The match was full of dramatic swings in momentum and Liverpool surged 7-3 ahead. Carter scored her third of the day, but Liverpool finally sealed an 8-4 win.
In their final match, York took on Sheffield. In the first minute of the match, Gorman scored the first goal, re-installing hope.
Just before half time, Sheffield equalised to make it 1-1, and afterwards, secured two more goals, bringing the score up to 3-1.
After a useful timeout, Highton netted to cut the deficit to 3-2. With less than five minutes to go, Jago drove the ball up the pool and with an accurate pass to Highton, the score equalled once again 3-3.
York played well in this final match of the evening, against arguably the best team of the tournament and were unlucky to concede two more goals within the last two minutes, ending in a full-time score of 5-3 .
Overall the event was a resounding success and demonstrated the value of the new facilities. A men’s version of the tournament is planned for the spring term.