LAX women crush opposition

On Wednesday the 17th, the Imperial Womens’ first team played their first match of the season against Reading. Despite being their first match as a team, Imperial dominated from the first whistle with Ellie Hill scoring the first goal and setting us off to an awesome start.

Defence was on form, with everyone working and communicating throughout the match giving Reading very few opportunities to even approach our goal. Despite play being interrupted due to injuries, the team stayed strong throughout. In the second half, the attack began to relax into the game after a slightly manic start and drew out the defence as using the perimeter proved to be an effective way of scoring. Victory was clear with a final score of 26-2 and Jahnvi Karia deservedly being voted as Man of the Match. Best wishes to Kat Roele, one of the veteran first players, who was injured in the match: we all hope she makes a speedy recovery!

Lizzie Allen, 1’s Captain said “I am so impressed with the level of talent that the new freshers have shown - should be an exciting season! Can’t wait to battle our old rivals UCL. Reading was a good warm up and we managed to practise some good plays but all in all we still need to improve as a team and work together better. We got let off a little easy this time”

The Womens’ 2nds lacrosse team played and won their first match of the season against Hertfordshire on Wednesday the 17th of October. The team was composed of a 50:50 mixture of seasoned players and fresh faces who had only picked up a stick for the first time two weeks before. Taking this into consideration the success of the match was a testament to the team and the hard work and keen drive of the players. The victory was a convincing one of 9-5 with the main goal scorers being, Annie Mondon-Ballantyne , Catherine Hedley and Gen Pugh.

Due to issues with the minibus and traffic on the way to Hertfordshire the team arrived with only time for a very short warm up before being thrown onto the pitch with some players not even knowing the positions they were meant to be playing. The first goal was to Hertfordshire in the early minutes of the game; with Imperial still trying to get it’s bearing. But back to centre, reset and it was clear Herts were not to be quite so lucky again. This time around, Imperial dominated possession with Hertfordshire showing clear weakness when it came to defending goals, and the quarter finished with 4 goals in our favour to their 1.

The second and third quarters continued with Imperial maintaining the upper hand, the players new and old showing increased confidence as the match progressed, fighting hard for every ground ball and making some excellent tackles. Members who had played the year before were showing remarkable improvement all round with the force of their play and getting stuck in with much more zeal than the previous season. Particular improvement was noticeable in Louisa Dyer, Alice Wickham and Hannah Thrower.

Hertfordshire were able to score 1 goal per quarter in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, all by their centre: their team captain and evidently star player too. The Imperial team were still yet to have a proper tactics training session and shutting one play

er down at all times proved a challenge. The defence worked hard to get to grips with double-teaming quickly and succeeded in holding off most Hertfordshire advances with fantastic defensive work by Vi Tran and Hannah Tullett, and of course Tania Buckthorp (goalie) too.

By the final quarter it was clear that Imperial’s fitness was lagging, a weakness exacerbated by the shortage of subs compared to the opponent’s team. Hertfordshire’s centre was able to break away and scored a final 2 goals despite the incredible perseverance of Jordon Mcdonald, valiantly attempting centre in her first match and subsequently being crowned Man of the Match for her impressive effort. Nevertheless, Imperial still held a comfortable lead with several goal attempts being made in the final quarter and the match ending in a flourish with Imperial’s 9th goal being scored by Gen Pugh in the last 20 seconds.

Of the final result the Seconds Captain said “I’m really impressed by how quickly the new girls have picked up the basic stick skills needed to play Lacrosse, its shown how valuable the time we have spent teaching has been. I am unbelievably proud of both the new girls and old members: every single person really got stuck into the match and gave it their all. It was brilliant seeing everyone working so hard and yet having fun at the same time.”

Imperial Womens’ lacrosse has got off to a rip roaring start and the teams seem to be going from strength to strength with much being gained from match play for both new and old players. If you are interested in playing--whether you have been playing since you were 12 or have never picked up a lacrosse stick before--please email lacrosse@imperial.ac.uk.