WARWICK RECORD HISTORIC WEST-MIDLANDS CUP VICTORY OVER WEST 1 LEADERS BATH

27/10/07

Bath 8 @ 11 Warwick - 2pm

This was the big game of the season that everyone in Warwick Men's Lacrosse had been looking forward to. It was the first time in the clubs history that the Men's 1sts could take on an out of region team (in competition) to see how far they had come since they established themselves in the Midlands league 3 years ago. They were given this opportunity in the first round of the West-Midlands Cup, where 3 Midlands teams and 5 West teams would compete, and were drawn against Bath.

Bath Lacrosse Club was set up in 1983 and is the oldest current club team in the West of England. After a prolonged stay in the top flight league in the south, last season the club decided to take voluntary demotion from the SEMLA Premiership after losing a number of quality players. As part of their new squad they would be playing a number of youth players and it was decided that the (slightly) lower level of competition in the West 1 league would be more fitting for their side. At the time of the West Midlands Cup fixture Bath were undefeated in the West 1 league, sitting at the top of the table.

Bath was the plum match-up in the West Midlands Cup, a team with so much history and experience, and the greatest competition Warwick could face. Many in the lacrosse community put Bath as easy winners (some said by a 10 goal majority) and Bath were drawn as 1-3 on, while Warwick were 6-1 against on the day.

In the first quarter Bath jumped out to a 4-3 lead, after controlling most of the possession, and their experience in attack proved too much as they stretched the Warwick defence to enable many succesful cuts to result in a score, along with a great behind the back shot on an individual effort. However the midfield pace and dodging ability, particularly of Alex Twiss (3,0) and Nick Scullion (3,0) kept Warwick in the game.

In the second quarter Seb Croft produced a dominant display at the face off-x winning all 4 face-offs, to help Warwick level the game at 6-6 at the half. On the day Seb Croft was 11 for 9 (0.550) and once again proved the catalyst for starting the Warwick offence going. An injured Mike North was 0 for 1 (0.000) at the face off-x.

After the half Warwick's superior fitness began to show through as they upped the tempo of the game hitting Bath with a run and gun game, with Seb Croft (1,0), Nick Scullion (3,0) and Nick More (1,0) scoring to jump out to a 9-7 lead. The offence began to causes serious problems on the Bath clear, with their riding forcing many turnovers that kept Warwick on the attack. The midfield hustle was also very high with the majority of the grounballs resulting in Warwick possession.

The final quarter was steadied with two early goals, Duncan Trenholme (2,1) on his return from injury scored off a killer feed from Aaron Fox (0,1) and Alex Twiss buried his third of the game, on a return to form for the midfield star after a quiet start to the season. Despite conceding 3 mins 30 seconds of penalties in the final quarter Warwicks man-down defence held strong only conceding one to bring the score to 11-8. Tom Riddlestone 9 saves (0.529) managed to effectively shut down the Bath offence in the second half, only conceding twice, in another confident display. This was aided by a much improved defensive unit of Jon Treacy, Dave Salmon, and Ben Sthothard who upped their play and nailed their slides to cover for the fast movement of the ball that Bath displayed.

Bath showed maturity, skill and possessed a great Lacrosse knowledge that will stand them in great stead in the West 1 league this year. Their mixture of youth (they brought 5 of their youth players to the game) and experience will stand them in a great position for the future, and in reality the game could have gone either way, but on the day Warwick's hustle carried them through.

Warwick will feel overjoyed with their win, and progress to the next round of the West Midlands Cup where they will take on midlands rivals Loughborough. Their next league game is against Keele away on the 7/11/07.


Warwick 11 v 8 Bath

Goals:
Twiss (3,0)
Scullion (3,0)
Trenholme (2,1)
Aris (1,2)
More (1,0)
Croft (1,0)
Fox (0,1)

Saves:
Riddlestone 9 (0.529)

Current Record: (2-1)