Women’s Lacrosse face Durham 2nd’s

York Ladies 5 - 16 Durham Ladies 2nds

Last years season ended on a high for the Women’s Lacrosse 1st team with a well earned promotion into the next division. This new promotion presented greater challenges on the pitch, and the team were aware a new level of skill and fitness would be required to face the formidable opponents in the new division. Playing the best team in the league, for the first match of the season, and with no reserves, did not seem to faze new captains Serena Franklin and Liz Chan.

The first half got off to a great start with a goal by new fresher talent Anna Yeomans who drove convincingly through Durham’s rather sleepy defence, making mincemeat of the goalie. This seemed to shake Durham into action and they then fought back with a succession of quick fire goals despite some excellent defence from York and some fantastic saves from goalie, Christiana Hambro.

The mid field; in particular Rose Morrison and Vicky Eagle  showed remarkable levels of post-summer holiday fitness as the ball moved quickly between the goals. Durham seemed to be less fit, but having the luxury of subbing on new players every quarter thanks to a twenty strong squad, meant that they were able to get the edge in the attacking unit with fast sprints to goal. These breaks would have undoubtedly been converted into many more goals were it not for the sterling York defense; Hambro’s saves in goal were nothing short of miracluous and at one stage Durham was unable to move within their own attacking circle as the York defense held strong for 15 minutes, eventually managing a turn over and sending the ball down to attack where Rose Morrison converted it into points.

Up in attack the team battled against an experienced Durham unit who were not to be easily foiled by Liz Chan, Helen Streeter and Emily Lingard’s attempts to shoot. Some excellent feeds from mid field players resulted in a nimble goal from Streeter, and some quick thinking from Liz Chan resulted in a shot for Lingard in the final quarter. Despite some excellent skill from the York team Durham were challenging all the way and kept fighting back with successions of goals from some highly experienced players. All in all York had an excellent first match, thoroughly enjoying being able to play against  a team of a high standard, and the final goal difference  of 16-5 fails to reflect the impressive teamwork they displayed on the day. Next week they compete against Liverpool firsts at home.