With much anticipation, the SMC Senior Teams travelled to face Radley Boys Lacrosse in our annual social fixture. Having looked into Radley's results in their recent games against Stowe and Downe House, our girls knew they would be in for a competitive game. 

The first game saw the B Team starting well and although they lost the first possession, they quickly turned the ball over, leading to a strong run from Clemmie C (UVI) who was unfortunately fouled on her way to the goal. A quick restart caught the opposition off guard, and allowed Clemmie to score, putting us in the lead. Radley soon started to get into their flow, and although their skills were not as sharp as our players, they relied heavily on their speed. At the half-time whistle, they had managed to take a 4 - 2 lead.

After a quick evaluation of how we played in the first half, the St Mary's team set out with the intention of playing smarter, which led to some great play and goals bringing the score even at 4-4. The opposition did not give up, however, and a competitive second half saw the Radley team take the win 5 – 4.

The second game featured the UVI A Team, and again, we struck first to take the lead. The Radley A Team seemed taken aback by the pace of our players, and so they changed their tactics to start using their speed more in midfield to feed the ball to their attacking players, who were very skilled lacrosse players.

The St Mary's team knew they were in for a battle and competed for every ball with the defence having to work hard to keep out a different kind of player than they were used to. Our midfielders ran non-stop, keeping up with the opposition and, at times, beating them with quick feet and superb dodging skills. At half-time, the Radley boys were two goals ahead and the SMC team knew they had to be on form to turn the score around.

In a second half filled with great play by both teams, Belle C (UVI)was in goal and made numerous saves, being described by the Radley players as 'insanely good'. Radley made good use of their super speedy play, so even with our strongest fight, we were not able to claw back the score, ending with a 10-6 win for Radley.

This was a great game for both teams to test themselves against a different kind of opposition and build on the different skills needed for play. The teams will take this experience on with harder tests in upcoming fixtures.

Mr David Abini, Head of Lacrosse