League: Milton Keynes 1-6 East Grinstead ‘A’

Milton Keynes opening game in SEMLA East Division Two ended with defeat against the experienced East Grinstead ‘A’ (second) team, but plenty of positives can be taken.

For a few MK players, this was their first lacrosse for some time as unable to attend many summer training sessions, so there was a little game rust to shake off. The four big positives to take from the game were; 1) Solid defence, led by Nathan in goal with everyone doing the basics right; 2) Good energy all game with everyone running hard; 3) Few basic errors, especially given it was the first game of the season. Yes there were errors but all easily addressed at training; 4) We looked the business in our new playing uniforms!

Our problem today was creating shooting chances. East Grinstead are always well organised and we don’t (yet) have the ball movement skills to pass through a defence, and today we did not have the confidence to dodge through a defence. Our shots were mostly long range efforts that did not trouble their goalie. Sam’s goal in the 3rd quarter was the exception. He won a ground ball battle near the sideline and raced towards the goal, leaving two EG defenders in his wake. The EG defence did not react in time and his shot found the back of the net. His goal gave us a big lift and with the score 1:4 going into the final quarter this game was still in the balance. If we could score first, we could still win this. Alas the 4th quarter did not pan out that way with two more goals from East Grinstead to make it quite comfortable at the end.

Man-of-the-Match: Nathan Villiers, for numerous saves during the game between the pipes.

D-of-the Day: Ben Amos, for his repeated attempts to scoop a ground ball, which he eventually managed to the cheers of the (small) group of  MK supporters, only then to throw the ball off the field, met by a groan from the MK supporters.

Game Stats
1:6 (0:1, 0:2, 1:4, 1:6)
Goals:
0:1 #11
0:2 #18 Chris White
0:3 #18 Chris White
1:3 #10 Sam Thornton
1:4 #9
1:5 #18 Chris White
1:6 #18 Chris White