Birmingham Men’s Lacrosse: 14
Warwick Men’s Lacrosse: 13

James Aris reports as Birmingham Bulls overcome a defiant Warwick

The Warwick Men’s lacrosse team retired to the changing rooms defeated but taking pride in their performance, in a thrilling match where victory could have fallen to either side.
           
The home side’s first defeat of the season forces them out of the Flags Tournament, last years league champions Birmingham Bulls just managing to tip the scales in overtime, bringing an end to a match of quality lacrosse in which the teams juggled the lead throughout, a reflection of last year’s league where Warwick came second to the Bulls, losing out on goal difference.
           
The first 20-minute quarter started as the game was to go on, with both Birmingham and Warwick seeing equal possession. Birmingham that made the first mark on the scoreboard as a result of midfielder Leo Carcy, winding up a massive shot the hit the middle right of the goal, two minutes later slotting another one in to give Birmingham a two-goal advantage.  
           
Three minutes into the second quarter saw Carcy reinstate his shooting ability, as Birmingham manipulated the Warwick defence into allowing the attacker enough space to get a shot off, hitting the left post and going in. Warwick were here at risk of losing momentum, but fortunately a dodge from up top gave Neal Roadley the chance to get the Warwick ball rolling, shooting despite taking hits from three Birmingham defenders and managing to fool the ‘keeper in mid-fall. Goals from both sides ended the quarter 5-3 to Birmingham, with Warwick unlucky not to be closer with only three of nine shots they had on goal converted.
           
The third and fourth quarters saw a distinct increase in tempo by both sides. Within twenty seconds Roadley added another to his tally, and then under a minute later delivered a massive hit on James Ceney, leaving him off injured. This proximity to Birmingham’s score was short lived however, as the away side proceeded to score five goals in the next ten minutes, with the only inspiration coming from fresher Sebastian Croft as he ran the length of the pitch to score his first goal of the season. In an attempt to slow this barrage of attacks a time-out was called, allowing Warwick to regroup. This seemed to make an impression on the team, as Warwick went on to bang three in before the end of the quarter, the holding of possession made all the easier by Aaron Fox’s fantastic work on face-offs.
           
Warwick, sensing a possible victory, went out in the fourth quarter all guns blazing, and within five minutes Roadley had ripped three fantastic individual goals to put Warwick in the lead 11-10, none of the times giving the keeper any chance. It was another ten minutes of incredibly tense play going back and forth between the two teams before Birmingham’s John Saunders launched a shot at goal to tie the teams. Two minutes later Carcy put Birmingham in the lead once more. With only one minute left McGrath, not normally the goal-scoring type, rolled his man showing great skill and levelled the score 12-12, forcing Birmingham into overtime.   
           
The anxiety of both teams was evident from the sideline as the two players crouched for the face-off. Two minutes in Aaron Fox took a brilliant feed from behind goal, and swiftly faked the keeper to put the ball in the net. The ecstatic celebration of the Warwick supporters was not to last long however, as Carcy once again used the defender to shield the shot from the keeper and blasted another outside shot in, making his total for the day eight. The second half of overtime was then equally nerve-wracking, and looked like it could have gone either way. Unfortunately it was not to be Warwick’s day, as Carcy and Jewkes worked well together, giving Jewkes a shot on goal that he willingly took and scored. With a minute of rushed play Warwick could not counter, and so the final whistle blew, with Birmingham 14-13 victors.  
           
Captain Duncan Trenholme was proud of the team’s performance, saying, “We always have a great rivalry with the Bulls, it’s always tight and always a bit of a derby match. Even though we got beaten today we showed awesome team spirit, fighting back from 10-5 to get back in front, it was just unlucky it didn’t go our way, this match is always the toughest for both Birmingham and us. The team is going from strength to strength, with great efforts from everyone today, especially the freshers, and we definitely have a very bright future.” The Men’s team, although now out of the Flags tournament, are unbeaten in their league, and if these games lean a bit more over to Warwick’s side we may well have league champions on our hands at the end of the year.