16 teams bundled up warm and travelled to Durham for the Inaugural English Lacrosse University Championships, all praying very hard that the snow and rain would hold off for the weekend. The tournament was altered from a 12 aside grass tournament to a 10 aside affair on the excellent rubber crumb to ensure that the tournament could go ahead after heavy rain and snow in the north-east in the week leading up to the tournament. Teams travelled from all over, from St. Andrews to Gloucester to Brighton.
Saturday saw the teams split into 2 pools of 8 playing in a round robin format. The play was fast paced and of a high quality with many exciting games being played. Edinburgh and Warwick put in the most impressive group game performances in the stronger group and Liverpool and Durham 3 placing highest in the development group. Leeds and Nottingham 1 both came through the playoff games victorious on Sunday morning meaning that they, Warwick, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Durham 2, Newcastle and Loughborough would compete to be the first Champions. The trophy competition was contested by Durham 3, Liverpool, Nottingham 2, Sheffield, Imperial, Brighton, Gloucester and Lancaster who had many of their players playing their first ever lacrosse games at the tournament.
The tournament was played in an excellent spirit of friendly competitiveness with many applauding of good play by opposition but there was no quarter given when there was a ball to compete for! From the state of several players on Sunday morning it is fair to assume a good time was had as the teams descended on Durham for Saturday evening, but all managed to make it back to the pitch in time for play on Sunday morning. The Championship semi finals saw Edinburgh overcome Loughborough in a game of exceptional quality and St. Andrews pulling off a surprise win over in form Warwick, who lost out in a tight encounter. The trophy semis saw Liverpool and Durham 3, true to Saturday’s form overcome Imperial and Gloucester respectively, with Sheffield and Nottingham 2 going through to the Plate final.
Sheffield emerged victorious in the Plate final while Liverpool gained revenge over Durham 3 for the defeat inflicted in the group stages in a closely fought Trophy final, I think their cry of celebration could be heard from the other end of the sports complex. All the finals were played in rain, which had kindly held off all weekend until that point, but it did nothing to diminish the standard of play, which was brilliant all weekend. Edinburgh proved they had too much for St. Andrews in what was an all Scottish final to become the first winners of the English Lacrosse University Championships, a well deserved result to a team that remained unbeaten all weekend.
Casey Cunnigham (Liverpool) was the tournament top scorer with 16 goals, with Georgia Wade (St. Andrews) picking up the most valuable attack and Binny Wilson (Loughborough) picking up most valuable defence. Steph Schneider (Edinburgh) picked up most valuable goalkeeper with her team letting in the keeping several clean sheets in a high scoring tournament. All the individual prize winners received an IPOD shuffle courtesy of tournament sponsors Credit Suisse, who also provided welcome shelter from the elements through the Credit Suisse tent. Many thanks to all those that played, umpired and volunteered at the tournament, we hope to see you all and many more back next year to see if Edinburgh and Liverpool can defend their trophies.
You can find the tournament pictures up at http://picasaweb.google.com/100567193296998157538
click here to view all tournament results
