Iceni women’s senior team are celebrating their first win after two years of competition in British Water Polo League and London League.

Iceni faced their long-standing rivals West London Penguin in a London League tournament last weekend. Penguin narrowly won their last BWPL encounter 12-9, so Iceni hopes were high.

In a tense first half, Iceni won the swim off and pressed the attack before scoring the first goal. Penguin countered and honours were even at half-time with the score 2-2. After the interval, Iceni again won the swim off and started to dominate possession. Penguin conceded several exclusions and Iceni took advantage for a 4-2 lead. With less than two minutes remaining the East Anglian side utilised their strength on the bench and put the game beyond doubt with another goal. Final score 5-2 and Iceni had their first senior victory.

Iceni then faced Beckenham and seemed overawed by their opponents’ strength and speed, falling behind 0-5 in the first half. They looked more composed after the break and fought back to a creditable 4-7 final score. Their last game against Polytechnic saw Iceni hitting the woodwork and forcing the Poly keeper to make some good saves, but the squad tired and Poly eased to a 0-7 victory.

Iceni captain Carly Rutter said “After the brilliant success of Iceni’s first win in Winter London League yesterday we can start celebrating our achievements – all the hard work is paying off.”

All female water polo players are invited to come along to Iceni’s first Bedford based training session on Sunday March 24th at Bedford Modern school Pool. Meet at 2.30pm followed by two hours of pool time for £5, with kitkats and squash provided afterwards! A great chance for everyone to get to know each other better and for new players to meet the team.