Lacrosse Women know how to win

Photo courtesy of Inquire Media

Kent Women’s Lacrosse clinched another Varsity win by beating Christ Church 14-6.

Despite their first goal being disallowed due to a player entering the crease, the team weren’t disheartened and proceeded to reclaim the point only minutes after. Sophie Wiegmann intercepted the Christ Church goalie’s pass and threw the ball right back into the net, securing Kent’s first goal. The first quarter grew continuously better for Kent as they scored three more times and goalie, Harriet Finlayson, prevented Christ Church from scoring a penalty.

Christ church came back fighting in the second quarter. Hollie Newton scored twice within the first three minutes after winning the centre draw and performed a lovely crease roll to bring Christ Church back in the game. The success of their opponents only pushed the Kent girls to work harder and score more goals. The most impressive moment was when Sere Oluwayemi stole the ball from Christ Church and ran the entire length of the pitch. When reaching the fan, she was met with three defenders, but dodged them all with some impressive side stepping and stickwork, before executing the perfect shot and sending the ball right into the back of the net. Another mentionable goal was carried out by Nicole Bendon when upon receiving the ball from captain Bethany Barber, Bendon performed a wonderful quick stick and gained another goal for Kent.

At the end of the first half, both teams started to lag and play became messier with many dropped balls and players failing to leave enough space inside the fan for their teammates to shoot. With the score being 6-3 to Kent, there wasn’t much in it. The UKC girls had expected an easy win but the half time score proved that Christ Church weren’t going to let that happen. Tensions were high but on-lookers sent shouts of support to spur the players on. A couple of spectators must have got confused as to which team they were there to support because they continuously cheered on Christ Church at the Kent side. Risky move when you’re sat next to the mother of one of the UKC girls.

Despite the tension between on-lookers, the Kent players didn’t seem phased and continued to fight for their title during the second half. Christ Church managed to get more possession of the ball, but Kent’s defence also upped their game. They stole the ball multiple times before running it down to the other end of the pitch and scoring a total of eight more goals.

Ultimately, Christ Church couldn’t match the same level of skill that Kent possessed to win. If all the players had played as well as Newton did then, perhaps the result would have been different. Overall, Kent performed very well with some beautiful goals and great defence, securing another Varsity Win with 16-4