2025 Scottish Schools Waterpolo Tournament

Published: 11 June 2025

Dunfermline hosts nine high schools for national water polo event

Report by Ross Hart of Dunfermline Press on the tournament held at Carnegie Leisure Centre on Fri 6 Jun.

Link to the report:  Dunfermline Press Article

Match Reports – U/15 Girls Scottish League– Portobello v Menzieshill/DWPC  Sun 8th Jun – NSA

Published: 11 June 2025

The combined Menzieshill/DWPC team have won their latest game in the U/15 Scottish League, 12-6 in a very competitive and sportsmanlike game against Portobello.

The team lined up with a full complement of 13 players with 6 girls from Dundee and 7 from Dunfermline.

Team line up: GK – Rosie Illes Brookbank. 2. Molly Oswald, 3. Phoebe Shaw, 4. Hali Farah, 5. Lucy Pretorius, 6. Ailsa Duncan, 7. Poppy Reid, 8. Isla Edwards, 9. Lily O’Neil, 10. Rosie Hookham, 11. Ellie Thornton, 12. Lauren Sinclair, 13. Hannah Scott

Per 1: We started the game very well with strong press defence restricting the opposition to minimal scoring opportunity. At the other end we counter attacked strongly and set up well showing patience in finding free players. We scored 4 with two each from Hali (one when 6v5) and Ailsa. At the period end we led 4-0.

Per 2: This period was much tighter as Portobello came into the game and increased their defensive intensity. A goal from Isla increased our lead but defences dominated for the next 4 minutes before Porty opened their account through Jasmine Cornish. We attacked again and gained and converted a 6v5 chance through Hali and then in the last minute we gained but unfortunately missed a penalty. A very tight 2-1 period scoreline and a 6-1 lead at halftime:

Per 3: Portobello took their improved form into this period and scored 2 nice goals through Niamh Wilson and Olivia Valvona. Lily extended our lead again on the Counter-attack but Porty fought back again scoring another double through Jasmine’s second and Emily Pentland. They then gained a man-up but an excellent save by GK Rosie kept them out. A commanding 4-1 to Portobello this period but we led 7-5 going into the final period.

Per 4: Portobello continued to press forward and gained an early exclusion but another good save from Rosie prevented a goal in the 6v5. They did though score soon after with a nice perimeter shot for Jasmine’s 3^rd goal of the game to reduce the deficit to just one at 7-6. Credit to our girls however as they then steadied the ship and were more active and concentrated in defence and attack. Ailsa attacked strongly and scored 3 goals in a row from the CF position and on the drive and then Ellie scored two excellent goals after driving in from the left side and picking up and faking the shot before converting. 5 goals without reply for a deserved but hard fought win 6-12. Well done girls but also thanks and well done to Portobello for an excellent contest.

Game Positives:

-The team worked hard throughout, and all players gained positive water time.

-We counter attacked strongly and created many goal scoring opportunities with good long ball distribution from Rosie IB in goal.

-We defended strongly at important moments including 5v6, backed up by some good saves from Rosie IB.  

Areas to work on:

-Decision making on when to pick up the ball and pass to driving players and when to walk forward with the ball to shoot or pass. Shoot from closer to the goal when on the ball if you have free space in front of you.

-Spacing out in an arc when in possession of the ball to create room to drive or room to pick up and pass or shoot.

-Look for the cross pass when getting ready to shoot if you have clear support on the other side of the goal.

Match Statistics: Game 1:

Team: Goals and exclusions/penalties conceded ( ):

2. Molly Oswald (1 exc), 4. Hali Farah (3), 6. Ailsa Duncan (5), 8. Isla Edwards (1), 9. Lily O’Neil (1) (1 exc), 11. Ellie Thornton (2),

Man-up: 2 goals from 3 exclusions gained (67%).    Man Down: 0 goals scored from 3 exclusions conceded (100%) Penalty – 1/1 - 0%

Penalties: 0 goals from 1 gained: No Penalties conceded.

Shots: 12 scored from 26 taken (46%)

Possession: 19/50 Gained (38%) 18/50 Lost (36%)

Match Reports – Scottish Cup Finals Saturday 7th June 2025 – Game 2 U19 Girls

Published: 11 June 2025

Game 2: U/19 Menzieshill/DWPC Girls v Warrender BC- 3:00pm

This was an excellent 15-9 victory in a very competitive contest between two committed teams. We lined up for the game expecting a very tough match as we had lost our previous outing against Warrender 11-13. We were able to welcome back Lucy MacNair and Kayleigh Goldschmidt missing from that game although Warrender were missing Charlotte Smith who was on holiday.

For Ava and Ruby R this was their second game of the day and in addition to Lucy and Kayleigh they were joined by their Menzieshill teammates Bea, Erin, Millie, Eleanor, Libby W, Libby D, Lottie, Kayla and Ksenia for a full 13 player complement.

Per 1: The game started very evenly with Ksenia giving us an early lead before Rosa Green equalised for Warrender. We then gained ascendancy with strong defence and organised attack to score 3 goals in a row through Lucy when man-up, Millie and a second from Lucy. Eve Kerr pulled one back before we gained but missed a 6v5. We continued to press forward however, and Ava scored allowing us to lead 5-2 at the period end:

Per 2: We made a very positive start to this period scoring through Lottie, saving a 5v6 situation and then scoring again through Millie for a 7-2 lead. Warrender kept pushing forward to score through Eve Kerr when 6v5 before Libby W increased our lead again with a nice turn and shot at CF. Under Warrender’s continued attacking pressure we conceded an exclusion and a penalty allowing them to score twice through Ellie Gardner and Rosa Green. A 3-3 period scoreline but we still led by three at 8-5 at half time.

Per 3: This was a low scoring period as strong defensive presses and compact man-down defences from both teams limited scoring opportunities. We saved a man-up before missing a 6v5 of our own and then Rosa Green scored to reduce the deficit to just 2. We continued to work hard in attack allowing us to gain an exclusion and score through Ksenia in 6v5 before Ava scored another to extend our lead to 4. We saved another man down with 26 secs on the clock to lead 10-6 at the three quarters stage.

Per 4: The last period was a high scoring end to end affair as both teams played with energy and determination to try and win the trophy. 4 exclusions and 2 penalties were shared with both teams showing attacking intent. Warrender made a strong start gaining two exclusions but we saved both 5v6’s. We scored two in a row through Millie and Libby W before Eve Kerr pulled another back for Warrender. We gained but missed a 6v5 before Lucy converted a penalty. Libby W then scored again to extend our lead before we gained but missed another man-up. Warrender came fighting back gaining then scoring 2 penalties through Rosa and Eve before Lucy concluded the scoring with a long range effort as the penultimate 30 second possession clock counted down for a final winning score of 15-9.

Well done girls on an excellent hard working team effort where goals were shared across 6 players and all players gained water time and made positive contributions. As we move forward, hopefully all in the team can work hard to maintain our progression and start to push for places in our Senior Women’s team next season and also be more competitive than last year should we enter NAGS again..

Match Statistics:

1. Team/Goal scorers ( ): Bea Meldrum, Erin Livie, Ava Thornton (2), Kayleigh Goldschmidt, Millie Wishart (3), Eleanor Campbell, Libby Wallace (3), Lucy MacNair (4), Libby Duncan, Lottie Affleck (1) Kayla Reeve, Ruby Reid, Ksenia Mann (2)
2. Exclusions/Pens conceded ( ): Bea Meldrum (1 pen), Erin Livie (1 exc), Ava Thornton, Kayleigh Goldschmidt, Millie Wishart (1 exc), Eleanor Campbell (1 exc), Libby Wallace (2 exc), Lucy MacNair (1 exc, 1 pen), Libby Duncan, Lottie Affleck, Kayla Reeve, Ruby Reid, Ksenia Mann (1 exc, 1 pen)
3. Man-up – 7 gained, 3 scored (43%). Man-down: 7 conceded – 5 saved. (71%)
4. Penalties: 1 gained, 1 scored (100%) - 3 conceded, 3 scored – (100%) –

Match Reports – Scottish Cup Finals Saturday 7th June 2025 – Olympia Centre – Dundee.

Published: 11 June 2025

Many congratulations to Dunfermline WPC’s U17 girls and the combined U19 girls team of Menzieshill & DWPC who enjoyed an excellent double victory in their respective Scottish Cup finals on Saturday in Dundee.

Game 1: DWPC U/17 Girls v Warrender BC – 9:00am

First up with an early 8:45am start, were our U/17’s. This was an excellent game against a strong opponent where we forged ahead in the first half, were pegged back by an excellent Warrender comeback in the 3^rd period before fighting hard to win the last period 7-1 for a 17-11 victory. We lined up with 12 players and all our girls gained water time and contributed to our win.

Per 1: The foundation for our early ascendancy in this game was determined and hardworking help defence, excellent goalkeeping from Eve and a well organised attack which found the free player at important moments. We made a strong start with goals from Ruby O and Ava from a penalty before the first of 3 excellent penalty saves by Eve followed by a man-down save. Isla increased our lead before Eve saved her 2^nd penalty. We gained but missed our own penalty at the other before a 2^nd goal from Ruby O put us 4 ahead. Warrender kept driving though and scored a 6v5 having gained an exclusion.  Period score: 4-1

Per 2: We conceded an early exclusion but saved it well before Ava scored. Warrender then scored 2 in a row through Emily Lake and Zoe Nimmo before we replied with 3 goals from Hali and Ava (2), the second of which when man-up. Zoe Nimmo pulled another goal back before Warrender missed their 3^rd penalty hitting the post. As Warrender continued to attack we saved another 5v6 with compact defence and commanding goalkeeping. At the half time break although we led 8-4 Ava and Ruby O were already on 2 major fouls each.

Per 3: Warrender fought back very strongly in this period with the excellent Emily Lake putting much pressure on the right side of our defence as we tried to protect Ava and Ruby O from further exclusion. Goals were traded at the start of the period with Emily Lake scoring for Warrender and Ava for us. Warrender gained another penalty which Eve initially saved but Zoe Nimmo got to the rebound first to push the ball over the line. This was followed by another Warrender goal, us missing a penalty before Warrender scored again to go into the lead at 10-9 for the 1^st time in the contest.  We rallied and attacked again to gain exclusion which Ava converted to draw level for a 10-10 scoreline at the 3 quarter stage.

Per 4: With all to play for but with the momentum probably with Warrender, we made a defensive switch to put more pressure on Emily Lake and the team were reminded of their excellent play at the beginning of the game and the features of that performance. This prompted a terrific last period with hard work and strong team cohesion resulting in us gaining and converting 2 exclusions and a penalty through Ava. Although Caitlin Rebello pulled 1 back for Warrender further goals from Hali, Ruby O, Isla and Ava again gave us a 7-1 period score and an excellent 17-11 team victory. Very well done girls for the resilience and fighting spirit shown.

Game Reflections: This was an excellent team performance that evidenced our hard work and positive attendances at preparatory water polo and swim training. It showcased a really positive and determined mind set throughout the game and most particularly when we fell behind at 10-9. Let’s enjoy the win but refocus quickly on good attendance at upcoming training so that we continue to improve both as individuals and as a team. We will work hard on defending the driving player without fouling and conceding exclusions and penalties.

Match Statistics:

1. Team & Goal scorers ( ): Eve Fielding (3 pen saves), Ruby Oswald (3), Ava Thornton (10), Hali Farah (2), Ruby Reid, Bethany Payne, Poppy Reid, Isla Edwards (2), Molly Oswald, Rosie Hookham, EllieThornton, Hannah Scott.
2. Exclusions/Pens conceded: Ruby O (1 exc, 1 pen), Ava (1 exc, 1 pen), Hali (1 exc) Ruby R (1 exc), Isla (1 pen), Molly (1 pen).
3. Man-up –5 gained. 4 scored (80%) Man-down: 4 conceded – 3 saved. (75%)
4. Penalties: 4 gained, 2 scored (50%), 4 conceded, 4 saved/missed – (100%) –