From last Friday (3rd March) to Tuesday (7th March) BGS’ U19A, U19B, U15A, U14A and U13A lacrosse teams played in the National Schools Lacrosse Tournament at Surrey sports Park, with some outstanding success achieved across the range of age groups.
The U19A team enjoyed four great wins in their group on last Friday to finish second and securing a place in the Championship Division for the second day. On the Saturday the standard was very high with the top 16 schools in the country competing for the championship trophy. Despite a loss in the first game against Berkhamsted School, the U19As secured a win against St Mary’s Calne and a draw with Downe House School.
A play-off match resulted versus Caterham School for a place in the quarter finals. Caterham proved too strong but the U19As still secured their best ever results in the tournament for BGS. Mrs Axford and the Sports Department would like to thank Millie Knowles, Emma Lousada, Anna Hunt, Emily Hibbert, Elena Salmon, Melissa Wellington, Kate Axford and Katie Parrish in Upper Sixth for their outstanding contribution to BGS lacrosse over the last 6 years.
The U19B side played in the B team tournament and had good wins against St Helen’s School and St Katharine’s School, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Girls’ School and Queen Margaret’s School but were unable to make it out of their group.
The U13A team also played well with wins against Goldolphin School and St Barts School but did not finish high enough in the group to compete in the knockout stages.
The U15As, after two years of disappointment at this tournament, had practised with real focus to come back this year to try and make an impact. They did just that beating six other schools to finish top of their group to meet Godolphin in the final 16. In an exciting match, which came down to golden goal, BGS held their nerve to make it through to the quarter finals, where they narrowly lost 4-3 to Downe House.
Mrs Axford said: “This team have shown resilience and perseverance and thoroughly deserved their top eight finishing spot.”
The U14As had a challenging year, reforming with new players following their championship title win in 2016.
This team could have easily struggled with the weight of expectation but rose to the task to top their group. In the first play-off round BGS beat North London Collegiate to face a strong St Catharine’s team in the quarter finals. BGS came out on top to gain a place in the semi-final against Lady Eleanor Holles School. The final result was a 4-3 win to LEH but this BGS team again showed the calibre of the lacrosse at the School to finish third in the country.
We also look forward to seeing the U12A, B and C teams and U11As play in their first Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire County lacrosse tournament at Cople Fields tomorrow (Saturday).
