Lax Loss for Cambridge Men

With the sun shining down on the University Parks, it was time for the Cambridge lacrosse teams to take on their Dark Blue counterparts.

Oxford put on the early pressure in the men’s varsity match, but couldn’t manage to get any shots in from close range, settling only for a couple of long range efforts. Their continued possession was, however, a sign of things to come as two shots came close to breaking the deadlock.

Jacho Conradie put in a huge defensive hit but this was the only sign of Cambridge momentum in the early skirmishes. A time-out at 0-0 was called as the Light Blues were gripping on to the match with their fingernails.

After the time-out Cambridge had the territorial advantage, but Oxford scored against the run of play to make it 1-0 at the end of the first quarter. After the break Cambridge were patient, but never managed to break into the Oxford fan, with only Matt Halliday managing a couple of attempts on goal.

Oxford scored soon after though, and a good save was only enough to temporarily delay Oxford making the score 3-0. Sam Bostock was caught offside and Oxford took advantage of the man up to extend their lead to 4.

With the game in danger of slipping away, Cambridge called a timeout. Bostock had a shot saved, and it didn’t get any better. It took three attempts in a goal-mouth scramble, but Oxford bundled it in to make it 5-0 at half-time.

Straight away Oxford struck twice, the second a neat one-two move to make it 7-0. After two slashes, Cambridge had a double man up but could not make the most of it and failed to get off the mark.

Then, like a Fifa goalkeeper, the Oxford number one had a go at running the length of the pitch, but didn’t convert to trigger an obligatory letter of apology. Another goal came, followed by a blast into the top corner to bring it to 9-0 at the end of the third quarter.

More of the same in the final quarter meant the game finished 12-0 as a disconsolate Cambridge team trudged off the pitch, hoping to fare better when the game returns to Cambridge next year.

In the other games of the day, the women won 12-6, the mixed team lost 9-8 and the women’s seconds lost a thriller 6-5.

Photographs by Sonali Campion