MDX 14 - KNIGHTS 8
Knights played Maryland Express Lacrosse Club on a beautiful sunny afternoon at Timperley Lacrosse club. MDX visit the UK every two years and it is always an honour and great opportunity for our players to play a very talented team from the US. Thanks to all involved and especially David Loveland for setting up the game.
Knights had a number of players on holiday or in the US touring with Stockport Metros, including our two faceoff men. MDX came out of the blocks quickly using their high powered shooters to over power Ethan Mockford the Knights goalkeeper in the first quarter. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to fwork on our defensive communication and packages to improve for the future. This was a very talented MDX team and probably the best squad they have brought over to the UK.
The coaches made adjustments after the 1st quarter and we began to play better with Ethan making a number of saves. Pat McGowan has just returned from the U19 World games representing Ireland and stepped up to take face offs, with George Harper's (LSM) help on the wings we started to win more possession. The defence stepped up and made more stops, sliding, recovering much better and communicating well to stop creating offence for MDX.
Ed Loveland is the quarter back of the offence and sees the field very well, but he also picked up a number of important ground balls and is not scared of doing the dirty work.
Joe Cheetham and Tom McArdle are the engine room of the Knights midfield and Joe started to get more opportunities to shoot, he has a hard accurate shot and found the net a number of times in the first half. We started to come back into the game but the MDX's goalkeeper was very impressive and we telegraphed our shots a little and didn't change the plain of our shots.
Maryland Express stretched their lead after halftime and we never really recovered, although we did score more goals towards the end of the game to make the score seem more respectable.
All in all it was a great experience for Knights playing talented US opposition, we learnt invaluable lessons that will help us improve for next years tour.
Knights Stats:
Goals:
Ed Loveland 3
Joe Cheetham 3
Cam Major 1
Pat McGowan 1
Assists:
BIlly Stewart 2
Joe Cheetham 1
Ed Loveland 1
Nathan Edwards 1
Saves:
Ethan Mockford - 12
We presented the MDX goalie with a Knights pinney at the end of the game for his MVP performance.
I hope MDX have a great time in the UK and have a safe trip home. See you in two years!
Thanks to Lee Warburton for the amazing photographs.
