Men's Lacrosse In Action

No longer content to win once a week, the men’s lacrosse team achieved the new high of winning two simultaneous games this Saturday.

The scheduled fixture against her Majesties’ finest, the Royal Navy “Salutes” was cancelled and granted as a walkover (they were scared of us!).

And so with Pompey’s perfect league form secure for another week, attention turned to cup competitions on Saturday as Northampton were the visitors for the quarter-final of the ‘Flags’ tournament.

Pompey’s older players will remember being outplayed by Northampton in the first round of this tournament last year, losing 11-7 at home.

The more resilient Pompey started brightly in front of a substantial(ish) crowd and although initially struggling to score, excellent build up play from the midfield was producing a number of opportunities.

It appeared to be only a matter of time before the dogged Northampton defence was breeched and sure enough, a long range shot found the bottom corner of the away teams net (or it would have done, were the net not so old and ripped).

Several Northampton players argued, wrongly, that the ball had flown wide of the post but the goal stood and Pompey had the lead. Much of what followed up to half time was one-way traffic, with Northampton apparently struggling to clear their lines and often squandering the few opportunities they created.

Whatever was said to the Northampton players at half time did the job, as they began to gain a foothold on the game and Portsmouth’s dominance became less than total.

Pompey earned themselves a number of time penalties through unnecessary challenges and it is a credit to the defence that despite being three men down at one point, they did not concede.

This was not always the case however and as the game drew towards a close Northampton added several more goals leading to a tense conclusion to the match. However it is Portsmouth who continue through to the Semis to host Norwich based ‘East Coast.’

Special mention must go to all the Freshers for their performances; their representation in the first team appears to grow every week!