The Nomads managed a triumphant win over WarwickPaul Hyland

Cambridge University Hockey Club women's second team (the Nomads) produced a scintillating display of attacking hockey on Wednesday afternoon to secure a 7–1 win over University of Warwick seconds at Wilberforce Road.

Just a week after a chastening 4–1 defeat away to Coventry University, the match gave the Nomads an excellent chance to get their season back on track. While the final scoreline appears emphatic, the initial stages hinted at a much closer affair. Warwick’s energy and purpose were on display from the first whistle, with the Nomads’ consistently excellent Rhianna Miller soaking up all of the early pressure. Warwick consistently tried to feed their forward line with longer passes along the ground, but Miller’s innate sense to drop deeper or push higher foiled almost all of her opponents’ attacking threat.

With a calming influence at the back, the home side were comfortable going forward too. It did not take long for the Light Blues to almost monopolise the ball, stretching the play by using the full width of the pitch, and leaving nothing to chance with a high line that won back possession time and again.  

However, after the Nomads squandered a series of penalty corners, Warwick found themselves in behind the home side's defence. An overhit backpass out of midfield was just out of reach for Miller. Warwick’s Elsa Keep licked her lips – the chance handed to her on a plate – and duly dispatched, the ball crept under the boot of the Light Blues' keeper, Liza Hartley, and onto the backboard. ‘Against the run of play’ scarcely covers it.

When sucker punches land, heads can drop, but the Light Blues were not about to let that happen. Mere minutes after Keep had put Warwick one to the good, the umpires spotted yet another penalty corner – one of countless Warwick were to concede. The ball was sent in short with just enough momentum to set Michelle Teplensky up nicely to knock in the equaliser.  

And the Nomads soon reversed the arrears thanks to Cat Cox’s free hit from the 23-metre line, finding its way wide right so an excellent driven cross could be stabbed home by Georgina Baker for 2-1.

Warwick put up a spirited fight, but the Light Blues were the more expansive side at each turn, widening the pitch well and finding space behind a defensive line that was never given a minute. While most of Warwick’s defending was done behind their 23-metre line, most of home side’s defending was done in their opponents’ half. Their lightning transitions from high pressing to quick attacking helped to turn this affair into a drubbing.

And they certainly helped add the third goal before half time. The Light Blues won the ball high up the field, and before anyone knew it, Georgina Baker had received the ball just inside the defensive area and unleashed a howitzer of a reverse stick shot to soar past Swathi Vankayalapati in the Warwick goal.  

Baker was not the only one whose performance raised eyebrows. The Nomads' Alicia Murphy, positioned between defence and attack, was perfect: hardly putting a foot wrong from the first whistle to last, her low centre of gravity allowed her to weave between markers as if they could not see her.

She instigated arguably the best passing move of the day with a characteristic burst forward out of defence, passing well to Tamara Norma, who handed over possession to Annie O'Neill , herself evading a series of markers before putting away for 4–1.

Second half underway, it appeared that whatever had been said to Warwick at the interval had worked. The away side looked much more organised, holding their defensive shape more easily, and keeping Cambridge at bay for longer.  

Indeed, as Warwick's Lily Covington told Varsity after the game: "We thought that we played well and put up a good fight for a team that we knew beat our first team! It was a good defensive game in our half and [the Nomads] did not give us an easy ride but we didn't go down without a fight!"

Much more spirited than in the first period, Warwick often managed to reduce the Light Blues to shots from distance and misplaced passes into the final third. However, Warwick did nothing to stop the officials awarding about as many penalty corners against them as in the first half.

And concede too many penalty corners at your peril. The home side's fifth penalty corner of the afternoon brought their fifth goal. This time, the brilliant Murphy passed along the ground to Teplensky, whose shot deflected into the keeper’s bottom right.

The Nomads were not about to stop there. Mere moments after the fifth goal, a completely unmarked Alice Jones welcomed a driven cross from wide right with open arms, finishing easily past the keeper to make it six.

And there was time for one more. Two minutes before the whistle, the Light Blues’s Rachel Brennan collected a loose pass in the centre and ran all the way into the defensive area with scarcely a challenge to face. She unselfishly tapped the ball in the direction of Rosie Vince, whose turn and shot put the cherry on the icing on the cake for the Light Blues.

Nomads: Hartley, Miller, Murphy, Cox, Barker, Czink, Baker, Pavey (c), Teplensky, O'Neill, Brennan, Jones, Vince, Norma, Hampel

Scorers: Baker (2) Teplensky (2), O'Neill, Jones, Vince

Warwick: Vankayalapati, Arnold (c), Smith, Marino, O'Hara, Covington, Wright, Adams, Gupta, Wilson, Hutton, Rosendahl, Grace, Rogers, French, Lloyd, Keep

Scorers: Keep