The Birmingham Lions roared to a 7-4 opening day home victory against Staffordshire on Wednesday. The University of Birmingham’s men’s 2nd Lacrosse team had to fight back to secure a well-deserved win against University of Staffordshire’s 1st team. The result puts Birmingham second in the league, behind on goal difference.
It was a slow start for Birmingham as they went behind after the 12th minute but they quickly made amends with Vishal Patel linking up with Amir Kumarathas to secure an equaliser before the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw the lions pick up from where they left off with George Rogers hitting a beautiful long range shot into the Staffordshire keeper’s net. However, the away side came back leaving the game 2-3 to the visitors at half time.
Nevertheless, in the third quarter Birmingham came alive as Vishal Patel scored a long-range equaliser in the 35th minute. This led to a great quarter for the home side as they managed to score three more to gain a 6-4 lead. The partnership between Patel and Kumarathas was thrilling to watch as they again linked up for the team’s sixth goal.
In the final quarter Staffordshire tried to find a way back into the game but were halted by some brilliant defending play and goalkeeping from the home side. The home side was excellent at controlling the play of the game as they managed to slow the Staffs’ attack. Seb Anderson finished off a wonderful day for the Lions with the game’s last and Birmingham’s seventh goal of the match.
On Wednesday 18th October, Nottingham Trent’s 2nd team visit Birmingham with the home side surely wanting to see this opening day form continue. The last league meeting between these two teams was back in 2014 where the points were shared in a 3-3 home draw. Hopefully the Lions manage to secure back to back home wins and continue this great start to the season.
