Warwick Women’s Lacrosse: 3
Oxford 2nds Women’s Lacrosse: 20

The Women’s Lacrosse team remain extremely close to the bottom of their league with only a win to their name after Oxford forced them to their third defeat of the season.
           
A strong and well-balanced Oxford side played with fluidity, confidence and a certain sense of civility as they overcame an unsettled Warwick in a game where the home side never really looked comfortable on the ball.
           
The away side’s composure was evident from the off, as the draw saw Oxford win possession, and within 20 seconds bury the ball in the back of the Warwick net. Sophie Coulfield initiated this by driving with strength down the right hand side, then spreading play beautifully by centring the ball to Rachel Turner, who in turn immediately fed the ball to Gina Blackwell who, unmarked, placed the ball neatly in the goal. The play between these three players was to plague the defence for the whole match, as they seemed to almost absolutely head the Oxford attack.
           
This failure to pick up the Oxford attack continued throughout the first half, three minutes in Blackwell scoring another from directly in front of goal as she took a feed from behind, completely unmarked throughout the whole of the attack. By the time ten minutes was up, Coulfield had added one to the Oxford scoreboard whilst Alex Carruthers put in two of her own.

At this point it seemed Warwick was to experience the same redundancy of goals that occurred against Loughborough three weeks prior, but that was not to be. Warwick at this point started to see more of the ball: solid settled attacks allowing Natasha Jones to exemplify a great deal of skill behind goal, controlling play and creating some very promising chances. Her work combined with Louisa Mitchell provided captain Naomi Whittaker with a clear run to goal, giving Whittaker her first of the hatrick that was to come.
           
No comeback was seen however, as the last ten minutes of the half bearing witness to some extremely classy Oxford play, most noticeably in their use of set plays. The most arresting of these was when the entire Oxford attack cleared out of the fan in front of goal to the right hand side of the pitch, leaving only the ball holder Coulfield and her defender on the left. Despite a valiant effort by Beccy Foden in defence, Coulfield’s awesome skill and height guaranteed the dodge’s success, and Coulfield wasted no time in placing the ball in the middle right of the goal.
           
The problems in defence continued to cause Warwick difficulties in winning back possession, and with four minutes to go Oxford were 10-1 up with further goals from Coulfield, Blackwell and Kate Hobday. The end of the half however saw some very promising Warwick possession, with Jones, Mitchell and Whittaker showing confidence in attack. Furthermore, just before the whistle was to go for half time, fresher Helen Simpson got the ball on the halfway line and sprinted towards goal, the post being the sole obstacle between Warwick and a second goal.
           
The second half saw much of the same, as Oxford continued to outclass and outmanoeuvre a tired Warwick defensive force. Warwick’s troubles did not end there though, the loss of Jen Boscoe in attack to illness and the lack of the experienced Bryony Walker in the team meant that even if Warwick did clear the ball possession was quickly lost up front. A few promising attacks by Whittaker and Jones gave Warwick two more goals, but once again Coulfield and Hobday made sure that Oxford remained a class above Warwick. Coulfield’s own tally reached nine, with the final whistle blowing with Oxford 20-3 victors.
           
It was obvious throughout that Warwick did not really do themselves justice in this match, basic problems of maintaining possession and marking being the most ostensible. Captain Naomi Whittaker was however positive about the match, “We fielded a fairly fresh team today, and every week we are coming together more as a team. We’re learning from every match, especially our freshers, and hopefully over the next couple of weeks we’ll have more luck against Nottingham and Birmingham”. Sitting near the bottom of the league the prospects for the team are far from fantastic, but with the toughest games of Loughborough and Oxford out of the way and a lot of potential in the team, Warwick’s fortunes may yet change.