Kingston lacrosse remain optimistic despite end-of-season defeat

Kingston University Women’s Lacrosse team fought to the very end in their last game of the season, but was defeated 3-23 by Sussex at Tolworth sports ground on Wednesday March 14.

The women found comfort against the windy conditions from the men’s lacrosse team, who had lost their game 1-9, which cheered them on by the sidelines.

The first quarter of the game was punctuated by goals from the Sussex girls every other minute, before the Cougars upped their game eight minutes in.

Two Sussex players cornered Synne Johnsson behind goal for an intense couple of minutes before she outran both, circled around the goal and scored Kingston’s first goal to roaring approval from the crowd.

KU goalkeeper Elise Knudsen, was praised by the team for her effort throughout the game as she blocked every other attack from the Sussex team.

Vice-captain Jessica Chewter scored Kingston’s second goal of the match only two minutes into the second quarter.

Chewter cut through as Johnsson centred the ball, and quick sticked as she shot the ball straight into the goal, to the joy of a roaring crowd.

Johnsson repeated the formula for the last score as she then scored her final goal 11 minutes into the last quarter.

The Cougars faced trouble with the draws, and rarely managed to draw the ball to their side of the field, but several of the players stole the ball and ran for the attack.

Johnsson centred the ball to Chewter, who cut through the opposing players and shot the ball straight into goal, to the joy of a roaring crowd.

The sun shed a light on the field in the final minutes of the game, which was for some senior members of the team their last game for KU ever.

“I’m really going to miss playing lacrosse, and being in this team,” said Johnsson.

“It was a good last game. I think we started a bit on a different planet, but we got better after the second half. We really started focusing and got better in the second half of the game.

“They’re clearly a better team, but we still had a blast and it was a good last game.”

Chewter added: “It was a really good match, and they were really good at defence. Scoring was quite challenging, but me and Synne did it together.”

Captain Sasha Boyko, who is known for “never missing a game” according to Johnsson, could not play due to illness.

“We missed Sasha there, but I felt like we made her proud anyway, even if we lost,” said Johnsson.

Joe Nicholson, 24, has been the coach for the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams for just over a year.

“It’s been a good season. But it’s just a beginning season, so we’re not solid yet. Next year we’ll probably just try to win some more games,” he said.

“The year has gone well, but due to different levels of experience within the team it can often lead to surprising results.”

The Cougars faced a crushing defeat in October of last year when Royal Holloway beat them by a staggering 42-0.

A semi-redemption was awarded the team when they managed to beat Royal Holloway’s second division team by 9-6 on February 7.

Despite a turbulent season with many losses, the team also managed to win on walkover despite losing the game on February 26.

Kingston University Women’s Lacrosse team is currently number six out of eight in the BUCS Lacrosse 2017-2018 South Eastern 2A league.