It was a very good night for the Birmingham Women’s Lacrosse 1st team as they defeated their Southern Division opponents 16-4 at the Metchley 3G pitch on Wednesday the 22nd February. After seeing the men’s lacrosse teams unfortunate defeat, the women were determined not to follow the same fate in this winner-takes-all knockout game.
The Lions started off very impressively scoring almost instantly and continuing to dominate the game in the early stages. The pattern of play followed a set order of Lions score, win the ball off the restart and then score or have a chance to score.
This would continue throughout the first half with much of the play being in Bath’s half with them rarely having the ball. The Lions seemed too quick and skilful for their opponents throughout the entire match but it most evident during the early stages when the Birmingham team was continually camped in the Bath defensive third.
As we approached halftime the Lions continued to score and led 6-0, then a shock happened as a quick break from Bath saw them score their first and only goal of the half. Birmingham then added another to make it 7-1 at the break.
The Lions seemed confident, in fact just before the half time whistle they had a chance to make it 8-1 and what would’ve been a glorious goal, as the players passed quickly between them with a chance falling for a quick catch and score which unfortunately was not taken.
Moving into the second half and although Birmingham were 7-1 up and seemed like they were a class above their opponents, Bath scored the next two goals making it 7-3 quite early in the half. This seemed potentially worrying as the defensive Lions players met up to discuss their failings.
However, Birmingham’s key players stepped up and they used offence as their best defence and continued the work that they had done in the first half by camping in the Bath half and rarely giving up possession.
For a brief moment, Birmingham were making some mistakes whilst the score was 7-3 but they regained their composure and would end up scoring 9 of the last 10 goals. As soon as they made it 8-3 and then 9-3 in quick succession, the game was settled and the Lions regained dominance.
As the crowd cheered on the home team, they continued to grow in confidence and fully put the game to bed, not doing anything spectacular and showing their opponent respect whilst imposing their dominance on them.
Overall it was a tremendous performance by the Women’s 1st Lacrosse team who will take a lot of confidence and pride in their performance. They showed they were the better team from start to finish and continually imposed their will upon the hard working but overmatched Bath team.
Chris Smith
