CHS lacrosse team remains undefeated
Cambridge High School’s lacrosse team has completed its third season – undefeated – after taking the Waikato secondary school title at home.
The Cambridge team defeated Hamilton’s Sacred Heart Girls’ College 5-3 after a week earlier also winning the national secondary schools title, also at home.
Cambridge’s coach Dean Forman said winning both the national and Waikato titles for three consecutive years was ‘‘really cool’’.
He thought the difference between the two teams was the experience Cambridge had in playing in previous high-pressure games.
‘‘Sacred Heart was awesome, they put up a huge fight. They came in as the underdogs and we came in as the favourites and for us, the game came down to experience and we have a lot of experienced players.’’
Forman admitted some of that experience will be missing next year when the team looks to defend its titles.
‘‘This year we are losing five, year 13 girls from this group. So we will have a nice fresh group of players come through next year.’’
Wet weather had made the ground soft at Tom Voyle Park in Cambridge and it was a factor the teams had to adapt to.
‘‘Last week when we played [in the national finals] the ground was more firm under foot so the game was fast.
‘‘This game came down to being calm with the ball and making the right decisions because the ground was soft.
‘‘It’s harder to handle the ball and to pull out your moves if you can’t get the right footing.’’
Sacred Heart Girls’ College’s coach Mike Rush said he was disappointed not being able to take home the Waikato title.
‘‘We came here for the win but I’m still very proud of how the girls performed. They really pushed Cambridge.’’
Rush said the Sacred Heart team made some ‘‘little mistakes’’ which opened up opportunities for their opponents.
‘‘We focused on defence today and that really worked. It’s just that out attack side of things wasn’t as polished as Cambridge’s and that was probably the difference for me.’’
Rush said Nicole Brown and Georgia Clarkin-Rush played well for his side.
‘‘Nicole was in-goal but has played most of the season out-field but today she certainly showed how good she was with some important saves and communicating with our defence.
‘‘Georgia showed how good she was with a few runs and strong defence. I could go on about a whole lot of players but I think they all played well. They just played as a unit and it was pleasing to see.’’