Before the white stuff put paid to all reasonable attempts at sport in Cambridge this week, the undefeated Blues lacrosse team met their match in league rivals Croydon on Saturday. As the wind whipped across the open pitches, the men were left exposed and vulnerable in what turned out to be a gruelling physical encounter.

Cambridge did look strong from the start, taking firm control in possession and passing smoothly around the goal. But it soon became clear that, far from just taking their time, they were actually unable to take their shots as Croydon aggressively closed down the angles. Soon the visitors were able to steal the ball and counter-attack, forcing Cambridge keeper Sam Spurrell to make some desperate saves. Then a fierce shot from ten metres slammed into the back of the net for Croydon to take the lead.

A short while later, some ill discipline from the Cambridge men resulted in several of them forcibly taking a minute off and Croydon capitalised with a second. Cambridge called for a time out to regroup whilst a chanting Croydon took up battle formation for the restart.

Literally flattening the defence, the huge Croydon attackers soon found themselves back at the Cambridge crease and hammered home a third. But Cambridge finally found their feet and Phil Hall came bursting out of defence to sprint the length of the pitch and put Cambridge back in the game. Soon afterwards attackman Todd Nichols was on hand to receive and engineer a straight shot for himself to put the first Cambridge point on the board.

But Croydon were quick to respond, and two more goals at the end of the first quarter stretched the scoreline yet further. The strength and precision of their shooting punished any mistakes in the Cambridge defence, who looked shocked at such an affront so late in their season.

The second quarter saw a more even contest with some good attacking efforts from the Blues. As several of the opposition took time out on the sidelines after unnecessary physicality, Cambridge looked to take their chance. But some top class work from the Croydon keeper kept his team in the black, while the attackmen added three more goals to put the half time score at 8-1 to the visiting team.

Pumped up after the break, the Blues came out a different team. Intercepting the ball, they showed strength and speed up the pitch and soon the play was focused around the Croydon crease. Todd Nichols was on hand once more, this time to set up his captain Ian Ralby for the score.

Let down only by their accuracy of passing and ball control, Cambridge at least began to look more like they wanted to win, though they still had a long way to go.

As the final quarter got underway, co-captain Phil Hall did his best to motivate his team, leading by example and setting up Nichols to fire in another goal. But Croydon had already stretched the score to an excruciating 10-3, adding one more to the tally with just ten minutes to go.

Cambridge stood up to the brute force of Croydon and weaved their way through the tackles to the attacking end. But even the frenzy that followed only allowed two more goals for Ian Ralby; nowhere near enough to close the gap in the scoreline.
This was a devastating loss for the Cambridge boys, so recently buoyed by their string of league successes. Promotion may just have to wait until next year.

Varsity Man of the Match: Ian Ralby put in a true captain’s performance, scoring three goals and lifting his team.

By Jenny Morgan