League: Milton Keynes 15 – 2 Cambridge University Eagles

Milton Keynes followed up on their win last week against East Grinstead with a comprehensive 15-2 win over Cambridge University Eagles, sweet revenge from the one goal defeat earlier in the season at their place.

MK started strong, playing some of the best lacrosse seen this season, scoring eight unanswered goals in the first quarter. Steve Brown lead the charge scoring two early on and the home team were mixing things up nicely with great passing and movement that created chance after chance.

The Cambridge defence was being carved up like a Christmas turkey. Jack Gambrill was getting under their radar, scoring twice from the crease. Brett Satchell finished a wonderful sequence of short crisp passes around the goal that pulled the defenders all out of position leaving Brett all alone on the post to stick the ball past the goalie.

So what happened in the second quarter where MK only scored two and Cambridge scored one? Well three things.

First Cambridge tightened their ship.

Second, all the MK players wanted to get into the scoring action so some bad decisions started to appear like low percentage shots from far out with no angle, or Hollywood-style passes into traffic which were either picked off by Cambridge or missed everyone and went out of play.

Third, Cambridge got some luck with four shots rebounding off the goal frame and another four hitting various parts of the Cambridge goalie other than his goalie head.

At half-time, in the spirit of lacrosse, MK and Leicester University defender George Bascom joined the Cambridge team to even up numbers a little. He also wanted to cause some damage in midfield which is prompted did by lighting up Ben Amos and dropping him to the floor with a robust but legal body check. Ben’s a tough cookie, he got up and got back into it. Ben also had a good day at face-off, competing well with his Cambridge face-off opponent with honours even come the final whistle.

The third quarter saw some of the MK play from earlier in the game with four more unanswered goals. Rhys Kelham finally broke his scoring duck this season with a nice finish from close range. Corey Jamieson scored his first competitive lacrosse goal in his rookie season, which capped off another excellent display in midfield.

Frederick Larsson gave Ben a break at a face-off, won the ball cleanly and powered to the Cambridge goal delivering a rocket shot into the top left corner. It was like having Carl-Peter Lian back in MK colours (our best player last season). Frederick could be mistaken for Carl-Peter when on a lacrosse field as they play with a similar Scandinavian style. It’s only their CD collection that would tell them apart; Carl-Peter with some A-Ha and Röyksopp; Frederick with the ABBA back catalogue, Roxette and Avicii.

The fourth quarter was tied 1 goal each but by this time the game was well beyond Cambridge. MK moved a few players around, including unleashing Nathan Villiers from goal into attack. Nathan had two glorious scoring chances but his attack stick is (metaphorically) covered in rust and his shots failed to find the target.

Man-of-the-Match: Corey Jamieson, for capping another fine performance with his first competitive goal. His only previous in-game goal was in a pre-season friendly against Birmingham.

D-of-the-Day: Rhys Kelham, for acting like a super tanker unable to stop before the halfway line and falling offside. Everyone but Rhys could see it unfold. He was chasing down a Cambridge middie but was always a pace behind. In lacrosse you must keep three players in each half. Rhys was in attack so must not cross back to the defensive half (unless someone else swaps with his into the offensive half). As he approach the halfway line he put on the brakes, but like an old 1970’s car, his brakes were barely functioning and he stumbled across the line. That’s a 30 second technical penalty but lucky for him, Cambridge could not score when man-up.

Game Stats
15:2 (8:0, 10:1, 14:1, 15:2)

MK Goals
Jack Gambrill (3)
John Horbury (3)
Steve Brown (2)
Frederick Larsson (2)
Max Pennell
Rhys Kelham
Brett Satchell
Corey Jamieson
Andy Kenyon