Girls Bosh Lax Oxford In Crunch Match

Blues Lacrosse girls put down a marker for the Varsity match, beating Oxford 15-9 at home.

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Cambridge 15 – 9 Oxford

The lax girls sent out a strong message to their Oxford counterparts last week by beating the Dark Blues 15-9 on Queens’ pitches.

The game saw the Blues face Oxford for the first of two BUCS encounters before February’s Varsity match.

Things started slowly for Cambridge with the Dark Blues keeping possession of the ball for longer than was comfortable.

A good set up from Georgie Hurt led to the first score of the day from Cambridge co-captain Laura Plant, however, Oxford quickly retaliated and for a while the scores crept up with Oxford equalising at any opportunity but never taking the lead.

Photos: Toby Parnell

A great grudge match was played by former captain and team granny Chip McClure, who attributed her spectacular defensive performance to her need for revenge after losing the 2004 Varsity match – the last time she encountered the dark side.

A surge in pitch-side supporters led to some much improved scum-boshing in the second half from the home side.

Some wide attack play allowed Cambridge the space to break holes in the Oxford defence leading to a myriad of stunning goals, most notably from the very much on song Georgie Prichard, the nifty northerner Ellie Russell and last year’s elegant vice-captain Angharad West.

A lapse in Cambridge defence led to a run of three goals from the Oxford attack with captain Jane Dougherty leading the charge in midfield, but it was too late for a comeback and Cambridge re-asserted themselves, to finish with a comfortable margin of 6 goals. In light of this supreme boshing, Dougherty’s appearance in Cindies later that evening was decidedly awkward.

Cambridge will encounter Oxford once more in the BUCS league before the highly-anticipated Varsity match  next February.

The Kingfishers completed a triumphant day for the lax squad by beating Oxford’s 2nd team, the Swifts, 10-5 away from home. A jellybaby-fuelled coach journey got the girls fired up for the start, and Ellie Jeffreys in particular came out fighting, scoring 2 goals in quick succession with a beautiful fake to bamboozle the goalie.

After 2 more goals, Oxford took a time out and got their act together, scoring twice on the counter-attack and leaving Cambridge looking a little frost-bitten at half time.

The biting cold took its toll on the team’s stickwork, but the Kingfishers upped their game in the final phase, with Tab fashion star Check Warner taking control of the game with a hat-trick of classy goals to leave the final score at 10-5.

The girls celebrated in style with some ribena and gymnastics on Wednesday evening, before heading to Cindies to bag some complimentary ‘champagne’. Let’s hope they’ll be drinking better quality bubbly come February…