Abbot's Hill hosted the second of our Christmas Tournaments on Saturday 3 December for the U14 and U15 age categories.

We were delighted to host St Helen's, Saint Albans High School (SAHS) and St James' in what was sure to be a very close and hard-fought morning of Lacrosse.

The U14s got underway with Abbot's Hill against St Helen's in which the home squad were able to apply some significant pressure to the opposition's defence and score four goals whilst conceding none, securing a valuable five points for the win. St James' and SAHS were the next to play and with some excellent attacking play and good defending, SAHS won 7-1. Abbot's Hill then played SAHS and, having had a game off, were considerably fresher, enabling them to score an impressive 9 goals while only conceding 1 in the closing seconds of the match. St Helen's applied a similar pressure on St James' and were able to score nine goals without conceding any. A slightly more tired St Helen's were straight on again to face SAHS, and having worked hard to score their goals in the previous match, were unable to maintain the same pressure, ending an exciting game 5-3 to the High School. The final game of the day saw Abbot's Hill take on St James' in the knowledge that a win would secure them the Christmas title. With some excellent work around goal and solid defensive transitions, the score was 6-0 to Abbot's Hill. A huge well done to the whole squad who thoroughly deserved to win the tournament and their enormous chocolate prize and especially to Lexi Simmons-Perry for being nominated MVP for the day!

The U15s had an equally exciting morning with some nail-biting games. The matches started with an exciting encounter between St James' and SAHS in which the lead changed frequently between the two sides. SAHS emerged as victors, however, with a narrow 6-5 win over their opposition and a solid five point win to begin their campaign. Abbot's Hill then faced St Helen's in round two and the game provided to an impressive display of Lacrosse with the home side narrowly winning 2-1 against the Northwood team. Straight onto the pitch and despite being a little more tired than their rested opposition in match three, the Abbot's Hill squad played in what was considered the ‘match of the day' against the High School. The contest was extremely exciting and hard-fought with AHS returning from a 2-0 loss at half time to being only 4-3 down in the last seconds of the game. A final shot on goal was saved as the hooter sounded, leaving SAHS with a five point win which would eventually seal the tournament for them. The final three games saw St Helen's beat St James' 7-1, Abbot's Hill triumphed over the same team 4-2 and SAHS narrowly beat St Helen's 4-3. Abbot's Hill finished second. Well done to all the teams who played in such exciting contests, and particularly to Fenella Balmforth and Jemma Attar who were nominated the tournament MVPs!