Timperley Lacrosse Club played host to the BUCS Lacrosse Semi-Finals on the 24th of February, which saw last year's champions, Loughborough knocked out and Durham seeing red.
The first match was a replay of last year’s final with Birmingham facing Loughborough. It was Loughborough who forged the first attack from the draw, but Birmingham who hit the post in the second minute and followed it up by scoring a 5th minute penalty after a shooting space infringement. After a scrappy opening containing a lot of loose play leading to soft turnovers from both teams, Loughborough equalised through another free position, Birmingham caught for 3 seconds, but that was the only goal for the reigning champions in the first half. Birmingham then started to show the strength their performances so far this year had lead us to expect, with a dominant performance for the rest of the half, Kirsten Lafferty scoring two as they went into half time 6-1 up.
It looked like it was all over straight from the draw as Birmingham claimed possession and scored. Frustrations were shown as Loughborough captain Asha Niven was yellow carded and spent two minutes on the sidelines during which her team scored, even though man down, through the great individual play of Jessie Cherrill making the score 7-3. However this was to be the start of a fight back, inspired by their captain, who returned to the field full of positivity, but it was not to be. Birmingham started to get tense and cracks began to show as three of their team were carded in the second half, but that was not to stop them as two of their players, Kirsten Lafferty and Alice Bruynseels scored hat tricks, to calm the nerves and close out the game, Birmingham winning 11-7. Player of the match went to Loughborough captain, Asha Niven for tenacity, playing a strong defensive game and for good leadership.
The second semi-final saw local Timperley player, Alana Livesey, score straight off the draw for her University side, Cambridge, in the game between them and Durham. Georgie Hurt, England International, took Cambridge two clear in the third minute leaving tempers flared and saw one player from each side yellow carded before Durham replied through their no. 12, Hannah Shaw. The first half remained tight and saw Durham GK Emily Green pull of a great save at 3-2 to keep Durham within a goal of Cambridge. It was Cambridge who went into half time up 5-3, following some excellent play, the highlight of which being an outstanding solo effort from Cambridge captain and Welsh International, Ellie Walshe.
The second half started finely poised, but it was Cambridge who took the initiative to forge ahead to 7-3. Durham were starting to have more possession and had pulled one back to 7-4 when they were hit with a huge blow of a red card for their no. 17, Madelyn Sminkey, for a second yellow card. This resulted in Durham playing one down for 5 minutes and Sminkey not being allowed to take the field again. Durham never gave up the fight but with local Livesey scoring again just before the end of the match, Cambridge progressed through to the finals in Sheffield with a 10-6 victory. Player of the match went to Georgie Hurt for her match hat trick and impressive play throughout the semi final.
Finals will be held on Thursday 11th March at Mount St Mary's College at 2.30pm.
