Report: Ladies Lacrosse Show Character in Durham Comeback

Twenty minutes into their clash with Durham, the University of Nottingham Ladies Lacrosse 1s team were in a difficult position.

UoN had taken the lead after Carys Bucknall scored within the opening minutes, but after an early timeout, Durham got their act together and scored five without reply to take a commanding lead.

For a ten-minute spell, everything went wrong. Nottingham were clearly not at the races, losing all the ground balls and any 50-50s.

This was a position the Green and Gold aren’t often in – they’ve only failed to win two Premier North league games since play resumed after the COVID pandemic in 2021. But both setbacks were against Durham, and, suffering from déjà vu after a similar sequence of conceding saw last season’s National Championship final against Exeter slip away from them, UoN were on the brink of witnessing history repeat itself.

Whatever Head Coach Mike Armstrong said to his charges at the end of the first quarter worked, as Molly Kennedy scored shortly after Durham’s fifth to keep the scores close. That goal was enough to swing the momentum of the tie, and minutes later a forced shot wide of the mark ensured the Green and Gold stopped Durham scoring for the first time since their opening goal.

It took another five minutes for Nottingham to continue their attempt at clawing their way back into the game, but Lucy Peel’s strike from 10 yards out flew past Maura Turner in the Durham goal and handed UoN another lifeline.

Although Durham scored from the ensuing draw, Nottingham hit right back to bring the deficit back to two goals, before Maggie Tifft scored with one of the last acts before the break to leave the score 5-6 at half-time.

The momentum of the match had turned in Nottingham’s favour, with Tifft having taken over draw duties to great effect. However, the comeback was not complete, and Nottingham knew that they’d have to continue their resurgence in order to get a result.

Once again, the Green and Gold came out after the interval as the stronger side. Within 90 seconds of play resuming, they had drawn level thanks to Emily Warrack’s goal, before Emma Pearce took control of the game.

Tifft won the following draw, and the ball worked its way to Pearce on the edge of the area. Her fierce bouncing shot ripped through the sea of defenders and over Turner, completing the turnaround. Two minutes later she scored her second, with a beautiful drive from the left wing sailing past the defenders and into the net.

Nottingham were now up and in the ascendency. However, they weren’t out of the woods yet, and when Durham scored from a penalty less than a minute later the pendulum threatened to swing the other way.

With the visitors peppering at her goal, UoN keeper Ginny Zealley had to make a string of key saves to keep her side in the lead. The first was an excellent stop at point blank range after a goalmouth scramble, before making a similar save a few minutes later to retain the lead after a large defensive stand under intense pressure.

Those saves proved vital, as Tifft picked the ball up off the rebound and charged the length of the pitch unchallenged to fire home her second goal of the game and restore the two-goal cushion.

Heading into the final quarter, and the Green and Gold produced a masterclass in ball retention to deliberately slow the pace and take the sting out the game. Durham had a handful of chances, with Mary Briscoe coming close, before Rosie Kendall fired in a goal with seven minutes remaining to keep the game exciting.

The task became harder for Nottingham when Pearce was sent to the sidelines having received a yellow card, meaning the Green and Gold had to hang on down a player.

However, they did so valiantly thanks to some brave defending and excellent ball retention, and to wrap up the evening Tifft fired home with virtually the last play of the game to complete a 10-8 victory.

With head-to-head the first tiebreaker in the BUCS league standings, getting victory in this game was always going to be crucial for UoN to secure the Premier North title and top seed heading into the National Championship knockouts.

Nottingham now go into the rest of the season as favourites to retain their title, and they resume their campaign with a trip to Scotland to take on Edinburgh.

More importantly, they’ve proven to themselves that they can come from behind to collect results from losing positions. With bigger tests still to come this season, including a potential National Championship final in March, that confidence may prove crucial and inspire future turnarounds.

Featured Image courtesy of UoN Sport. No changes were made to this image.