Warwick Mixed Lacrosse: 15
Leicester Mixed Lacrosse: 8

Warwick strode with relative ease to their fourth victory of the season against a Leicester team that never appeared to stretch Warwick in a strong performance by the home side. This puts Warwick second in the league only to their rivals Loughborough, and winning this year’s league does not seem like too distant a possibility.

Although the score line gives the impression that Leicester were not that far off the Warwick team, the game told quite a different story, Warwick dominating from the off and seeing significantly more possession than the away side, their goals giving off a much more impressive sense of elegance and class.
           
The draw, normally carried out by two females because of the style of the sticks, saw Leicester use instead a man with a women’s stick. This was the only part of the game that Leicester dominated; the strength of a man meaning the draw often went Leicester’s way, in spite of Georgina Thorley’s valiant effort. Thus the first draw went the away side’s way, a possession that they quickly squandered with a poor shot straight to ‘keeper Thomas Riddlestone. A good clear by Paddy McGrath with the help of Emma Hunt gave Warwick their first settled attack of the game, and they did not lack any sort of hesitation in instating their dominance. A pass to Aaron Fox at the top of the fan gave him a clear run towards the goal, where he promptly hit the middle left of the goal.

Despite Leicester’s tactic of hurling the ball down the field and hoping one of the players got their first, Warwick managed to keep themselves from being dragged down to their level. However, this way of playing occasionally worked out for the away side, their two skilled male attackers managing to keep the goal difference to a respectable level, holding the score to 4-3 to the home side at the end of the first quarter.
           
The second quarter saw a change of tactic for the Warwick side; the way in which Leicester used their male forwards to drive towards goal in a successful way inspired Warwick to do the same, Naomi Whittaker and Thorley feeding Fox and Nick Scullion brilliantly to give the Warwick attack numerous chances on goal. This combined with Whittaker’s excellent individual drives to goal and Riddlestone’s consistent shot stopping gave Warwick a 9-4 lead at half time.
           
The second half was much the same as the first, Warwick clearly dominating the play in the middle of the field and only occasionally falling victim to Leicester interceptions. Leicester however were beginning to mark the men at the top of the fan, stopping them from being able to drive towards goal, so Warwick were forced to change their tactics again. Great running from Thorley on the right hand side and poor marking from the Leicester opened up a huge amount of space for Whittaker, who provided most of the goals in the second half. The Leicester response was not as a result of poor defending on Warwick’s part, more that a certain amount of luck fell to the away side. Warwick however finished the game strong, work between Fox and Thorley giving the latter a clear run on goal, placed beautifully in the bottom left corner and making Warwick clear victors 15-8.
           
Captain and ‘keeper Tom Riddlestone was impressed with Warwick’s performance, having this to say: “Although the goal difference was not as much as we hoped going into the match, we came out with a good victory and a solid performance and that’s what counts. Everyone played really well today, and hopefully we can continue this standard of playing throughout the year.” With only one loss so far against Loughborough, it seems they are the team to beat if Warwick want a league victory this year, and if they keep their standard up they stand a very good chance.