Kingston Men’s Lacrosse suffered their worst defeat since their inception last year to Kent 1st team yesterday, losing 22-0.
Missing their captain Keir Sweeney from the heart of defence and several other seniors, Kingston fielded a team of mostly freshers as they took on the far more experienced Kent team.
Vice president of lacrosse Ben Murphy said: “They were much better than us on the day, and they really are a good team.
“They have a second team in the league as well made of freshers who we play next week, which will be a much better test of our team given our experience.”
One-sided game
Kingston began the match well holding onto possession from the face-off for the first seven minutes without interruption. But the quality of Kent’s defence held them at bay and swift counterattacking play set the tone for the match afterwards.
Early in the first quarter several Kingston players were called for penalties which led to their man-down defence conceding the first goals of the game.
But Kingston regained their discipline after that, holding Kent to only four goals in the first quarter and nine in total in the first half.
Inexperienced team
Despite the one-sided scoreline, Kingston’s goalkeeper Jostein Smidt acquitted himself well in what was only his third game, making saves well into the double figures as the Kent attackers took advantage of Kingston’s inexperienced defence.
During the second half the few senior players that were available began to tire, requiring substitutions which left the team even more lacking in experience and Kent pressed home their advantage as a senior team.
Elsewhere the Women’s lacrosse team carried on from their excellent win against Canterbury with a 20-5 victory over Hertfordshire that sees them top of the league on goal difference after two games.