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Photos: Jack Western
Cup glory eluded the Men’s Lacrosse team, who in appalling conditions on the 3G went down 10-5 to a well drilled and experienced Liverpool side.
In a match billed as a ‘clash of the titans’, between the unbeaten league champions in the Northern 2A and 2B leagues it quickly became obvious that the match would be a close and tense affair in, bizarre weather conditions on the 3G as the weather rapidly oscillated between sun and snow, however despite this York were incredibly well supported with the touchline full of well-wishers . The opening few minutes were cagey and defensive as both teams sized each other up. The deadlock was broken when York took the lead through a very well worked goal by Andy Thomas.
However Liverpool very quickly struck back to level, displaying their incredibly potent counter attacking ability. As the big hits went in it became obvious that this would be a very close and probably a low scoring match as both sides were incredibly well organised and resolute defensively. The first quarter continued to be a cagey affair and ended 1-1.
The second quarter certainly livened up as both teams strove to gain the advantage. Chris Menon scored a stunning individual goal to given York the lead; however the advantage was quickly pegged back by a Liverpool strike. Ever dangerous Menon had another goal disallowed for warding and Liverpool also had an effort disallowed. The irrepressible Thomas fired York into a 3-2 lead but frustratingly Liverpool immediately struck back to even the score. York however were not done, scoring just before half time to given them a wafer thin advantage at the break.
The Third quarter would prove to be crucial. The snow which was pouring down with a vengeance was in many ways prophetic of York’s quarter. Liverpool came out with all guns blazing. A screamer from Liverpool attacker Dom Carragher levelled the score once again, and this was quickly followed up by another to give Liverpool the lead in the match for the first time. Menon did peg the score back to 5-5 for York, however it was clear that the momentum was with Liverpool who scored two more goals to make it 7-5 by the end of the quarter.
Although Liverpool held a narrow lead, the match was still very open. However in many ways it was a huge ask for York to peg Liverpool back as they had proven themselves to be so organised and resolute throughout the match. Although their counter attacking tactics were not necessarily attractive, this made them very hard to break down. Liverpool also had a lot to thank their keeper who had made numerous stunning saves to deny York during the quarter, without him the complexion of the match may have been very different.
In the fourth quarter York came out with a new zeal, having a number of good chances and dominating early possession, clearly believing that the match was not beyond them. However Liverpool didn’t panic and showed their class to steadily take dominance over the quarter. In the end they scored 3 more goals, two of them in the final 5 minutes to run out 10-5 winners to delirious scenes from the Liverpool faithful. However York should be given great credit for pushing them until the very end.
Captain William Chun told Vision “I would be lying if I wasn’t disappointed. We did really well to get here and our team has improved a lot, but to lose the final two years in a row is really tough”.
“dom carragher” is actually Matt Collier