SCOTLAND NEW BRITISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
SCOTLAND won the Men's British National Championship for
the first time in six years with victory over Cheshire at
the weekend.
The national side triumphed 6-3 at Wilmslow Lacrosse club
against the 2002 winners, having knocked out defending champions
Lancashire in the semi-finals with an 8-2 triumph.
Udo Suzuki led the way for Scotland with a hat-trick as they
led Cheshire 4-2 at half-time, with Stuart Craig (2) and Mark
Hodkin also on the scoresheet.
England midfielder Dan Green scored a brace for Cheshire
and fellow international Chris Mountney were also on the scoresheet,
but their efforts were sadly in vain.
"It was nice to beat Scotland in the semi-finals because
they beat us in a close final last year, but it was nice to
win the final as well," said Rob Mitchell, the Scotland
captain.
"We didn't let Cheshire have much of the ball. We played
well as a team and never felt the pressure.
"The whole team is delighted with the way we've played.
It's a great feeling to have won the British National Championship."
Allan Collingwood, coach of Lancashire, praised Scotland
for their sweet triumph, but admitted he was disappointed
having not retained the title they won so dramatically last
season.
"We played reasonably well, but Scotland deserved to
win, they played much better than us," said Collingwood.
"It was looking like a Lancashire versus Cheshire final
after we won all of our group matches, but all credit to Scotland,
they performed well."
Lancashire took away some consolation from their final defeat
with victory in the third-place play-off against South.
The Red Rose County triumphed 6-1, with the England Academy
taking fifth spot with a 4-3 overtime victory over Yorkshire.
English Universities edged Wales 5-3 to claim seventh spot,
while their opponents finished last out of the eight teams
competing at this year's prestigious tournament.
Results
Men's British National Championship (Wilmslow, Cheshire)
- Final: Scotland 6 Cheshire 3. Semi-finals: Scotland
8 Lancashire 2, Cheshire 7 South 0; 3rd place play-off: Lancashire
6 South 1; 5th place play-off: Yorkshire 3 England Academy
4 (after overtime); 7th place play-off: English Universities
5 Wales 3. Preliminary play-offs: Yorkshire 2 Wales 0, English
Universities 3 England Academy 5.
Final standings: 1, Scotland; 2, Cheshire;
3, Lancashire; 4, South; 5, England Academy; 6, Yorkshire;
7, English Universities; 8, Wales.
Group matches: Cheshire 6 Yorkshire 1, English
Universities 1 Lancashire 4, Wales 3 South 8, England Academy
3 Scotland 6, Lancashire 8 South 1, Yorkshire 2 Scotland 6,
English Universities 2 Wales 0, Cheshire 6 England Academy
4, South 5 English Universities 3, Scotland 2 Cheshire 8,
Wales 5 Lancashire 6, England Academy 4 Yorkshire 5.
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