With rumours of an injured Rugby team, and with a series of well-fought but unfortunate losses, the pressure was put onto the RSM Lacrosse team to bring back a win for the Royal School of Mines in Bottle Match 2018. Our Bottle Match debut last year saw us win 10-3 at home, but now that we were away, surely a bigger challenge awaited us!

After seeing off the heart-pounding draw of the Men’s Hockey, the entire squad commandeered a coach and immediately set off from Penzance to Penryn. Arriving to the pitch with about 30 minutes to warm up did not deter our spirits. We got straight into our warm-up and straight into setting up the goal we brought over from London!

With goals from Arianna Guppy, Charlotte Morphet, and Charlotte Hampson, we quickly found ourselves at the end of the first quarter 4-1 up, with the crowd going wild. Going into the second quarter the game became much scrappier, and the conditions of the pitch did not help with the ground balls – in fact we saw more grounded players then picked up ground balls. Fresher Stephen Kwong found himself bagging a goal after winning a ground ball and rolling through CSM defences.

With two quarters remaining, CSM stepped up their play (and fouls) and scored at the start of the third quarter. The CSM spectators went crazy as the idea of a comeback swept through their minds. After all, no Lacrosse match is decided until the final whistle, right? In response to the CSM cheers, Ari once again won the draw and scored once again bringing the score to 7-2, silencing the CSM chants, and igniting once again the spirits of the RSM!

Entering the final quarter, with a 7-2 lead, the Royal Miners of Lacrosse went all out with goals left, right, and centre bringing the final score to 13-3. The Hero and Legend of this amazing match was Arianna Guppy, for her overall dominance of the game. Stephen “The Mighty Kwong” Kwong had also received nominations for his goal, and Lygon Bowen-West was an unsung hero for his fantastic saves during the game and general shutting out of most goals from the CSM’s attack.

We can’t wait for the growth of the club over the next year and of course, our third Bottle Match appearance, next year, at home in Harlington!

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