Ireland or Sweden await England men in semis
SHEFFIELD'S Richard Wilson top-scored with five goals as
England men defeated the hosts, Czech Republic, 14-7 at the
European Championships here, yesterday.
The Sheffield University attacker has now scored 15 goals
in five games, with England remaining unbeaten in the group
stages of the tournament. The South Yorkshire goal-machine
is currently the leading scorer in the entire tournament.
The national side, inspired by Wilson, will now meet Ireland
and Sweden in the first of Friday's semi-finals at the Slavia
Sports Ground, having won all five of their matches in the
Blue Group.
Wilson has been delighted with the way is playing, but does
not mind how many goals he scores, so long as England can
become champions.
"I'm playing well, but so is the team," said Wilson.
"It's great scoring goals. I want to score as many as
I can and hopefully they will help us reach the final.
"It's a great experience playing for England and I'm
really enjoying myself. It would be great if we could win
the title."
This year's other semi-final will be contested between Germany
and Scotland, teams England have already beaten in this year's
competition.
Chris Mountney (2), Paull Fullerton (2), Andy Brickell (2),
Steve Shanahan, Alistair Wallace and Matt Marsh were also
on the scoresheet for Dave Elwood's team against the Czechs,
as they led throughout 4-0, 8-2 and 13-4.
"Everybody did their job and it was good to reaming unbeaten
in our group," said Elwood.
"We felt after our first couple of matches that we were
getting stronger, so it's good to have continued that form
and reached the semi-finals.
"From here on in it's knockout lacrosse and we need to
win two more games to become champions. We don't fear anyone
now, but we can't take anything for granted. We've beaten
the best teams in Europe."
European Lacrosse Championships (Prague, Czech Republic) -
Men, Gp Blue: England 14, Czech Republic 7 (4-0,
4-2, 5-2, 1-3); Wales 2, Sweden 10 (1-3, 0-3, 1-1, 0-3); Scotland
3, Germany 15 (1-1, 0-4, 2-3, 0-7). Gp Cyan:
Italy 3, Denmark 7 (2-4, 1-1, 0-2, 0-0); Latvia 1, Ireland
15 (1-4, 0-3, 0-6, 0-2); Netherlands 7, Finland 10 (0-4, 1-4,
5-0, 1-2). Women - Gp X: England 11, Czech
Republic 11 (5-4, 6-7); Scotland 11, Wales 7 (7-3, 4-4). Group
Y: Scotland B 8, Wales B 5 (4-1, 4-4).
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