Keele outclassed by York women in superb lacrosse performance
York 1sts 25 Keele 1sts 0
Last?Wednesday, the Lacrosse women’s team opened this year’s BUCS campaign with a convincing victory over a very inexperienced Keele University side.
York showed very few signs of early-season rustiness, but were never really troubled by a Keele side that contained a number of freshers who were unable to handle York in defence, or to seriously threaten York in attack.
York dominated play from the outset, opening up a three-goal lead within minutes, with goals from Helen Streeter, Emily Lingard and Kiera Linton. The third goal was something of an embarrassment for the Keele goalkeeper, as she seemed to turn her back to the ball as it was shot, giving her no chance to save it.
Keele began to battle back, but were unable to keep the ball out of their half to give their defence some respite, and York stretched their lead further with goals from Lingard and Streeter, whose pace and skill was too much for Keele.
York’s early dominance was highlighted by the manner of their sixth goal. It was scored by Carina Topham, who carried the ball 60 metres from defence to attack to score a superb individual goal.
A further three more goals for York meant that they ended the first quarter 9-0 up already.
Keele managed to briefly stem the flow of goals in the second quarter, beginning to defend their area better, forcing York to the outside. It also seemed as if York already knew they would win the game, as there was not the same intensity as in the first quarter.
Despite this, York still managed another five goals, including two more for Lingard, to go into half-time at 14-0 and coasting to victory.
Keele continued to struggle after half-time, although they were able to hold York to only four more goals in the third quarter, although York’s attack was slowed by the loss of Streeter, who left the field towards the end of the first half.
Their were rumours on the sidelines that York would bring on their freshers in the fourth quarter if they stayed so far ahead, as the freshers were down on the 22 acres for a practice. However, York settled for bringing on all of their reserves to give everyone some game time.
This barely slowed York’s attack and they continued to pile on the goals as the Keele players’ heads dropped. The final whistle was a relief to the Keele players, and somewhat to the York supporters on the sidelines, who felt embarrassed by the ease of victory.
York’s girls were just too fast and skillful for Keele, most of whom had clearly only just started lacrosse. York will face far tougher tests ahead in their BUCS schedule, especially from a Durham 3rds team who beat them last year, and who dispatched Northumbria 1sts 20-0 in their opening match.
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