By – Sour
Saturday 14 May 2011 saw this season’s edition of the Yorkshire at Leeds LC. 7 teams affiliated to the White Rose County Lacrosse Association battled it out for a trophy that I’d have been confident to use in a mediaeval joust.
Saturday 14 May 2011 saw this season’s edition of the Yorkshire at Leeds LC. 7 teams affiliated to the White Rose County Lacrosse Association battled it out for a trophy that I’d have been confident to use in a mediaeval joust.
Due to its post seasonal nature the Yorkshire Shield is an 8s tournament, and with the usual level of planning and preparation, the Knights tripped down to Leeds with 8. Zanner backed up the team between the pipes, with Kyle, Webbé, Ian, Higg, all played some big stick at times and short stick at other, while “Keen” Craig Stephens (KC), Fordy and J Wheels rounded out the team. A full day of Iron Man it was to be for the Novocastrians.
The Kngiths were drawn in Pool B, and played against Leeds LC, Sheffield University (BUCS freshers team) and Hull. The other Pool was Leeds Uni, Leeds Met and Sheffield Steelers ‘A’.
Leeds were the first opponent and the Knights coasted out to a 2-0 lead without Leeds getting a look in. A cynical/clumsy (I’ll leave it up to you to decide) hit from behind on Kyle put him down for the remainder of the first half and about half the second period. The constant man-down allowed Leeds back into the game at 2-2, before a silver goal put the Knights back on top only for Leeds to pull another back to level it at 3. A Leeds shot on the whistle went in, but was obviously after the ref had blown up leaving the score tied at 3-3.
The second game for the Knights was Sheffield Uni. This tournament was the first time many of the Sheffield team had played a competitive game, and the boys in black and yellow were exposed for their lack of experience. A 10-0 scoreline was adjudged to be fair, although there was a feeling that it was probably more.
The Knights final pool game was against Hull and back to back with the Shef Uni game. Hull opened the scoring but were then shut out for the rest of the proceedings as the men in silver picked up a 3-1 win. This left Leeds needing a 12 goal margin of victory over Shef Uni to pip the Knights to a place in the final, leaving some discomfort as to not counting better during the Shef Uni game.
9-0 was the final score which left the final standings in Pool B thus:
1. NuTLC 2 0 1 16-4 +12 (W L D F-A Diff)
2. Leeds 2 0 1 16-6 +10
3. Hull 1 2 0 7-7 0
4. Shef Uni 0 30 0-22 -22
Pool A finished like this (no detail):
1. Leeds Met
2. Steelers A
3. Leeds Uni
Shef Uni picked up 7th place. Leeds Uni then Played Hull for 5th /6th – Hull took the win in OT 3-2, Leeds LC then beat Steelers 6-2 to take 3rd place.
The final then was Leeds Met v Newcastle. All in all it was a bit of a disappointing end to a decent day of lacrosse. A good Met side (of 13) punished the tiredness and niggles that the 8 Knights had picked up during the day and punished them on the break after Wheeldon had opened the scoring. It finished up 6-2, but much of the game was a damn sight closer as a contest than that would suggest.
Whether or not they won that final, everyone has the right to be proud of their performance. The effort put in by the whole team, and especially the attack and longsticks for taking some of the weight off the middies on the breaks. Higg had a decent day at the X and even got some fast breaks away off the face. Wheeldon was deadly with his sights on goal, Ford was as elusive as ever, Stewart carried on his improvement that we’ve seen over the season- and with a little more confidence could have bagged a couple more than his single tally. Zanner was imperious in the goal and only really conceded good goals. Kyle and Webbé were indefatigable in both attack and defence and KC worked his backside off despite not being able to run for the last game and a half.
In summary it was a good team performance that showed how pragmatism and sensible play can put you on top when the odds are against you.
As for awards for the day I’m going to unilaterally suggest that Zanner probably nicked it, Fordy was a definite goon for his shooting percentage alone, and as for bag...Wheeldon picked up the only personal foul and everyone was generally well behaved, so by default it’s him.
Due to Fordy changing his tune as to whether goals in this tournament should count towards the end of season tally, I haven’t got a record other than Webby got 2, Higg got 1 and Ian got 1, and KC didn’t get any – but probably will next time he ends up in the sort of positions he did on Saturday.
Next stop...Blues!
The Kngiths were drawn in Pool B, and played against Leeds LC, Sheffield University (BUCS freshers team) and Hull. The other Pool was Leeds Uni, Leeds Met and Sheffield Steelers ‘A’.
Leeds were the first opponent and the Knights coasted out to a 2-0 lead without Leeds getting a look in. A cynical/clumsy (I’ll leave it up to you to decide) hit from behind on Kyle put him down for the remainder of the first half and about half the second period. The constant man-down allowed Leeds back into the game at 2-2, before a silver goal put the Knights back on top only for Leeds to pull another back to level it at 3. A Leeds shot on the whistle went in, but was obviously after the ref had blown up leaving the score tied at 3-3.
The second game for the Knights was Sheffield Uni. This tournament was the first time many of the Sheffield team had played a competitive game, and the boys in black and yellow were exposed for their lack of experience. A 10-0 scoreline was adjudged to be fair, although there was a feeling that it was probably more.
The Knights final pool game was against Hull and back to back with the Shef Uni game. Hull opened the scoring but were then shut out for the rest of the proceedings as the men in silver picked up a 3-1 win. This left Leeds needing a 12 goal margin of victory over Shef Uni to pip the Knights to a place in the final, leaving some discomfort as to not counting better during the Shef Uni game.
9-0 was the final score which left the final standings in Pool B thus:
1. NuTLC 2 0 1 16-4 +12 (W L D F-A Diff)
2. Leeds 2 0 1 16-6 +10
3. Hull 1 2 0 7-7 0
4. Shef Uni 0 30 0-22 -22
Pool A finished like this (no detail):
1. Leeds Met
2. Steelers A
3. Leeds Uni
Shef Uni picked up 7th place. Leeds Uni then Played Hull for 5th /6th – Hull took the win in OT 3-2, Leeds LC then beat Steelers 6-2 to take 3rd place.
The final then was Leeds Met v Newcastle. All in all it was a bit of a disappointing end to a decent day of lacrosse. A good Met side (of 13) punished the tiredness and niggles that the 8 Knights had picked up during the day and punished them on the break after Wheeldon had opened the scoring. It finished up 6-2, but much of the game was a damn sight closer as a contest than that would suggest.
Whether or not they won that final, everyone has the right to be proud of their performance. The effort put in by the whole team, and especially the attack and longsticks for taking some of the weight off the middies on the breaks. Higg had a decent day at the X and even got some fast breaks away off the face. Wheeldon was deadly with his sights on goal, Ford was as elusive as ever, Stewart carried on his improvement that we’ve seen over the season- and with a little more confidence could have bagged a couple more than his single tally. Zanner was imperious in the goal and only really conceded good goals. Kyle and Webbé were indefatigable in both attack and defence and KC worked his backside off despite not being able to run for the last game and a half.
In summary it was a good team performance that showed how pragmatism and sensible play can put you on top when the odds are against you.
As for awards for the day I’m going to unilaterally suggest that Zanner probably nicked it, Fordy was a definite goon for his shooting percentage alone, and as for bag...Wheeldon picked up the only personal foul and everyone was generally well behaved, so by default it’s him.
Due to Fordy changing his tune as to whether goals in this tournament should count towards the end of season tally, I haven’t got a record other than Webby got 2, Higg got 1 and Ian got 1, and KC didn’t get any – but probably will next time he ends up in the sort of positions he did on Saturday.
Next stop...Blues!
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