Spencer brought home the runners-up trophy from the Essex Spring (more like summer) Tournament, hosted by Colchester Lacrosse Club and ArchLevel.
Six teams braved the scorching Bank Holiday heatwave;
- Buckhurst Hill
- Essex
- Kent
- London Uni
- South Universities
- Spencer
The county teams of Essex and Kent were gearing up for the upcoming SEMLA County Championships on 14th May, while the South Uni team, with a fully colour co-ordinated 20+ squad, were a week away from the British National Championships, and probably started as favourites.
Spencer were unfortunate to lose two players during the 24 hrs leading up to the event so were running with just a 10-man squad of mostly 2nd team players from the recent league season.
The tournament format was 2 x 15 minute games with the top two teams after the round robin phase contesting the final.
Spencer 5 – 3 Essex
A solid start against the hosts. Timely goals from Luke and Hugh sealed the opening victory.
Spencer 2 – 2 Buckhurst Hill
A close game with Hugh equalising in the closing seconds of the game.
Spencer 3 – 2 Kent
Another close game by which now the Spencer legs were getting heavy and the remaining games were all back-to-back so no let-up until the close of the tournament.
Spencer 4 – 1 London University
A good victory against a London Uni side who looked good in their earlier games with some fast direct lacrosse.
Spencer 0 – 0 South Universities
By now most of the Spencer squad could barely run through fatigue. South Uni’s slipped up against Buckhurst Hill in their previous game so needed a win to make the final. Their 20+ squad faced the 10 men of Spencer to see who would face Buckhurst Hill in the final. To our surprise, South Uni’s played timid lacrosse and posed few problems. If Spencer had the energy to create more chances we could of won this game. But a draw put us in the final, so job done.
Final: Spencer 1 – 2 Buckhurst Hill
Neither team really fancied another 30 minutes running in the heatwave so the final was not dynamic lacrosse, but Buckhurst Hill got more shots on target and although Sho was fantastic all day, they breached the Spencer goal twice to take home the winner trophy.