Hornets caused a major upset on the opening day of the Southern Box Lacrosse (SBL) 2023 Winter Box League as they overcame last year’s unbeaten champions, Knights, 4-3.
After a ferocious and fast-paced opening five minutes, Taylor Harrison put his Hornets side a goal up in unusual fashion after play was stopped following a foul.
Knights’ goalie, Eliot Pugh, had his back to goal thinking the ball was still dead but the referee’s whistle blew and Harrison saw his chance to fire into an open net from 15 yards out, much to Pugh’s annoyance.
With five minutes left of the first quarter, the ever-dependable, Matt Marsh, showed his international pedigree and doubled Hornets’ lead as he nonchalantly hit home from range after Knights’ defenders failed to close him down quickly enough.
Knights came out in the second quarter seemingly determined to get back in the game but with Hornets’ goalie, Jacob Brindle, playing exceptionally well, an opening goal wasn’t forthcoming.
That was until the final six seconds when Will Walker found himself out wide and played a sumptuous ball to Rob Harris who’d made a diagonal run in front of goal; Pugh was wrong-footed and Harris hammered home to make it 2-1 going into half-time.
Taking that momentum into the third quarter, Knights found themselves level at 2-2 with just over a minute gone when Danny Hilton picked up the ball in a wide area, drove towards goal, and ripped a shot at Brindle who initially thought he’d stopped the shot only to see the ball dribble under his legs and into the back of the net.
Hornets were able to regroup, stemming the Knights’ attack, and found themselves back in front through Marsh once again, scoring a very similar goal to his goal in the first quarter; an unstoppable shot from a wide angle, placed perfectly into the corner of the net.
And any Hornets’ tensions dissipated two minutes into the final quarter when England’s Ming Trinh extended his side’s lead to two goals after a feed from Brindle saw him open in front of the Knight’s goal, one on one with Pugh; Trinh finished with ease, hitting the top right corner.
Knights set up a grand-slam finish with seven minutes left of the game, however, as Walker scored a goal straight out of the top drawer.
Picking up a ground ball on the far side of the pitch at an angle almost level with the Hornets’ goal, Walker ripped an implausible shot that snuck in at the near post.
Knights spent that final few minutes huffing and puffing but Hornets stood firm for their first win of the 2023 season.
In the other game in the men’s competition, Steelheads defeated last year’s finalists, Capitals, 14-6 to record their first win of the season on opening day.
Despite a really close first two quarters, Steelheads’ quality shone through in the second half, scoring six without reply.
Ben Buchanan and Elliot Leonard both scored hat-tricks while Louis Alhage and Corrie Bruce grabbed a brace each to help Steelheads take the win.
And in the first ever women’s competition at the Winter Box League, Blaze came out on top in a close contest with Ravens.
England field goalie Katie Greenwood, playing as an attacker in the Winter Box League, Miho Sakurai, Laura Wright, and Lucy Ford all scored two for Blaze in that one.
All three games can be re-watched in full on the Lacrosse Live UK YouTube channel HERE and head to the Southern Box Lacrosse (SBL) website HERE for more information about the Winter Box League.
Day 1 Results
Steelheads 14-6 Capitals (4-3, 4-3, 4-0, 2-0)
Steelheads scorers | Buchanan (3), Leonard (3), Alhage (2), Bruce (2), Di Seina (2), Bascom, Groves
Capitals scorers | Perry (3), Watson (2), Milner
Hornets 4-3 Knights (2-0, 0-1, 1-1, 1-1)
Hornets scorers | Marsh (2), Harrison, Trinh
Knights scorers | Harris, Hilton, Walker
Ravens 7-11 Blaze (3-1, 0-3, 3-3, 1-4)
Ravens scorers | Best (3), Lee (2), Blakeley-Crewe, Keane
Blaze scorers | Ford (2), Greenwood (2), Sakurai (2), Wright (2), Breach, Lane, Stephens
Day 2 Fixtures
12:30 | Knights v Capitals
14:30 | Blaze v Ravens
16:30 | Hornets v Steelheads
