A cold Wednesday evening of November 30 saw Loughborough Women’s first Lacrosse team take on Oxford Brookes in the seventh and final Big Match of the term.
The match was set to be a great showcase of lacrosse as two competitive teams met hoping to knock the other out of the championship. Loughborough had more to lose; playing at home with a strong crowd of 200 cheering fans and the team was aware of Oxford Brookes’ standard having seen them they play against the Loughborough women’s second team earlier in the season and power to a dominant 24-1 victory.
With a late start due to a delayed Oxford Brookes team the match was greeted by wind and rain. However, with less than three minutes on the clock, Emily Steel scored the first goal for Loughborough. This was soon followed by eight more goals for the strong Loughborough side resulting in Oxford Brookes calling a ‘time out’ to discuss tactics.
With the loss of the Oxford Brookes captain to a head injury which needed paramedic assistance, the away side’s defence seemed unable to keep out the opposing attackers who scored goal after goal. At half time Loughborough led 11-0.
A more focused Oxford Brookes team returned after half time and despite two quick goals scored by talented Loughborough attackers Harriet Kent and U19 England player Claire Faram, Oxford Brookes got a quick break and scored in the 42nd minute to make the score 13-1.
However, this only spurred Loughborough to step up their game and increase their goal count. The second half score was 10-1 to Loughborough seeing defensive players Jess Cherrill and Binny Wilson dominating in attack.
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The Loughborough team continued to dominate Oxford Brookes, barely allowing them any possession looking fit and intense in all areas of the game. And with that, the final whistle saw Loughborough victorious with a convincing win of 21-1.
The player of the match was awarded to Claire Faram who was a top goal scorer along with Captain Florry Saunders, Harriet Kent and defender Emma Turner. However, the great display of team work, skill and tactics from the Loughborough team was the reason they left the field victorious.
Having made it through their first knockout game they are in great shape to carry on with their league games and hopefully continue to be victorious in their next knockout against Exeter.
