University of Edinburgh v University of Glasgow – BUCS
The Edinburgh side arrived in a particularly cold Glasgow for the fixture against their university side. The game got off to a discouraging start, with poor transitional play from Edinburgh that led to Glasgow holding the ball in offence. Edinburgh’s offensive play was unimaginative in the first and second quarter, with the team struggling to set up coherent offensive plays. However, John Goodwin managed to break the deadlock five minutes in with an unassisted dodge to goal, a lead which didn’t feel particularly safe in light of the sloppy midfield play that continued on into the second half. Jonny Davis managed to increase the lead with a shot from outside the D, but Glasgow continued to harass Edinburgh’s defence, succeeding in taking advantage of a cut in, taking the score to 2-1. The second quarter was punctuated by a more offensive Edinburgh side. Jonny Davis took advantage of the lax defence to score another two goals from the outside, and Deniz Bertuna similarly seized the opportunity to further Edinburgh’s lead, working his way through the Glaswegian defence to make the goal. Although the lead was now 5-1, Edinburgh’s offensive play seemed to remain unimaginative. Fortunately Bill Buschle again proved his experience, leading the defence to prevent Glasgow from scoring in the second quarter, despite several man down situations. The third quarter saw a stronger Glasgow, managing to score another goal, but by this point Edinburgh’s lead was not in doubt. Unfortunately Edinburgh’s passing was particularly sloppy in the third quarter, with many opportunities in the offensive half lost to poor passing and catching. Attack man Hugh Adams managed to make up for the attack by putting away two goals, each assisted by Roger Huddle leaving Hugh in a one on one situation with the goalkeeper on both occasions. Despite increasing the lead, Edinburgh were failing to win the ball in the midfield, leaving both the defence and attack to pick up the slack. Here the Edinburgh defence stepped in to prevent Glasgow taking advantage of Edinburgh’s poor transitional play, and Josh Bamford proved important in clearing ground balls from Edinburgh’s half on multiple occasions. Likewise fresher Davin Flood, who began the sport in September, put on an impressive performance with aggressive defensive play, never shying away from a chance to win the ball. By the end of the third quarter, Deniz Bertuna had once again added to his tally, breaking through the defence single handedly in characteristic style. Similarly Jonny Davis scored again, breaking from the D and taking the assist from Roger Huddle to put the ball away. Goodwin opened the final quarter by doubling his tally with a jump shot coming in from out top, and Bertuna quickly added to this to complete his hat trick. Edinburghs’ transitional play began to improve and play settled down in the final quarter to hold their extensive lead, Davis making the final goal. Glasgow made their third goal from a rebound, after two consecutive saves from goal keeper Devin Oliver, who had an exceptional match. The game ended on 12 – 3, improving on their previous 11 – 2 home victory against Glasgow University despite the absence of captain Mike Carley. Edinburgh University’s next game is home at Peffermill playing fields on December 1st against the University of Stirling to finish off the first half of the season. For the training schedule, fixtures and advice on how to get involved, look at the team’s new website; https://eulacrosseclub.eusu.ed.ac.uk/
University of Edinburgh v University of Abderdeen – BUCS
After a long coach journey, the team arrived in a grey Aberdeen for the second game in the BUCS league against the University of Aberdeen team. Edinburgh’s play began quite sloppily, most likely underestimating the Aberdeen side, who were playing a far more coherent game in this game, with a controlled offensive that took longer to get used to. However, Edinburgh quickly took hold of the game with several goals in the first quarter, giving a lead that felt far from secure, with enduring offensive plays from Aberdeen. Despite this, Edinburgh managed to maintain the lead throughout, provoking some aggressive play from the home side. Devin Oliver succeeded in keeping Edinburgh in the game, making excellent saves throughout the game, whether or not the sun was in his eyes. Bill Buschle also succeeded in giving Aberdeen a challenge, organising the Edinburgh defence and preventing several offensive attempts from Aberdeen, particularly in the closing quarter.
The game ended at 14-5 to UoE, maintaining their undefeated streak in their BUCS campaign.
University of Edinburgh v University of Glasgow – BUCS
The University of Edinburgh men’s lacrosse club hosted the University of Glasgow on the brisk Wednesday afternoon of November 3rd, and came away with a strong 11-2 victory. Jack Rau set the tone early, as he cut inside the Glasgow defense and scored point-blank to open the scoring less than two minutes into the game. Edinburgh kept the ball on their offensive side of the field for most of the first quarter, and they put together a 5-0 lead after the first twenty minutes of play thanks to two fundamentally strong bounce-shots from Mike Carley, as well as tallies from Noël Juvigny-Khenafou and Hugh Adams. Edinburgh’s midfield had difficulties both winning and possessing the ball in the second quarter, but defense admirably picked up the slack. Chris Dawson played his best game of the season, and he and his line-mates kept Glasgow’s attack completely off-balanced, forcing them to take shots that goaltender Devin Oliver had no problem stopping. Fresh legs in the form of Jonny Davis reinvigorated the Edinburgh offense in the third quarter, as he fed the captain Carley who put the shot away to secure his hat-trick, and stepped in to score himself. Edinburgh regained strong control of the ball in the quarter thanks in no small part to the efforts of fresher Merlin Lewis, who absolutely dominated face-offs in his first real lacrosse game. The highlight of the quarter though belongs to Deniz Bertuna, who rifled an off-hand shot past the Glasgow goaltender off a feed from Carley in a perfect execution of a set play developed the day before. A solid 9-0 lead going into the final twenty minutes of the game gave Edinburgh the opportunity to switch its lines around to give its new players valuable playing time. Unfortunately by this time in the game both teams, who had been playing with very few substitutions, started showing their exhaustion, and focus began to break down on both sides. Davis added to his tally with a neat left handed shot past the keeper, and Bertuna added a third goal to complete his own hat-trick, but Glasgow refused to see the writing on the wall. Their hard play forced Edinburgh to take a series of undisciplined penalties. Constantly being in stressful man-down situations from the penalties eventually wore down Edinburgh’s defense, and Glasgow finally capitalized on two shots from right in front of the net in the last five minutes of the game. Those two goals did little more than ruin Oliver’s shutout however, as strong play on both ends of the field from the very beginning of the game meant that Edinburgh’s victory was never in doubt.
Devin Oliver and Jonny Davis
University of Edinburgh v University of Stirling – BUCS
The game got off to a slow start, with one unassisted goal in the first quarter by #21 Jonny Davis. The second quarter was slow, with a second goal coming from #11 Deniz Bertuna with a shot from the outside. The second half was more interesting. Hugh got injured so decided to referee, disallowing a behind the back dive across the crease goal. #29 Roger Huddle assisted #3 Mike Carley in a shot in to the top left corner from the outside, and Mike got another goal top right, unassisted. Roger Huddle assisted Jonny Davis’ goal from the outside. #19 Noel Juvigny-Khenafou’s infamous swim dodge earned him two unassisted goals this match. Finally #18 Jack Rau got an assisted goal on the fast break. That took us to 8, but Stirling held the ball for long periods of time on the offence, managing to score three goals. Two were outside worm burners with Devin Oliver, number unknown, facing into the sun, one a nice left handed jump shot from #8. EUMLC were looking unusually coherent, with out of the packet fresh jersey and shorts. Notable players this week were #7 Daniyal Sebastian Ahmad with important clearing plays throughout the game, helped by a solid defence and goal keeping from Devin Oliver. Thanks to the freshers, who got less game than they probably hoped for, but still come every week.
University of Edinburgh v University of Aberdeen – BUCS
E.Uni quickly dominated the game, with the final score being 16-3 to E.Uni, despite still being panicky on ground balls and losing possession several times in front of our own goal. In the final quarter we put on our freshers and continued to hold the game, a good start for the new bunch.
Here’s a run down of the scorers this week:
Deniz Bertuna: 3 (dedicated to Rona, one a dive across the crease)
Chip: 2
Jack Rau: 2
Hugh Adams: (eventually) 1
Mike Carley: 2
John Goodwin: 2
Noel: 1
Roger: 1
Jonny Davis: 2
Edinburgh City v University of Edinburgh – Friendly
A friendly against Edinburgh City got off to a very bad start, and by half time Edinburgh Uni were down 6 – 1. The play from E.Uni was unsettled, resulting in poor attack plays. The first goal was unassisted shot from Jonny Davis in the first quarter. Our fortunes in the second half improved, as we took a hold of the game and repeatedly shot on goal, with several shots from Mike Carley and Deniz Bertuna. E.Uni eventually broke City late in the game, with two goals on the fast break, scored by Jack Rau and assisted by Jonny Davis, and one unassisted goal from Jonny Davis. Hugh Adams also came very close to a goal. Mike also had several shots on goal, and our final goal was an unassisted and well placed shot from Deniz Bertuna into the top corner. Our defense served us well throughout the game, particularly in second half. Notable defenders were Bill Buschle (despite being wiped out) and our keeper Devin Oliver, who repeatedly made excellent saves. Well done to the midfielders too, who had few subs but kept on.
Final score: Edinburgh City 7 – 5 Edinburgh University