ALEX DREWE DOMINATES FOR ENGLAND AS THE TEAM MAKES HISTORY IN UTICA
After an incredible nine days of action, history has been made in Utica, New York as ten nations took women's box lacrosse teams to compete in the first ever women's World Championship. Of the teams who took part were England and Ireland, both with tough competition in their respective pools. Although unable to use historic data to predict how each team would fare, any lacrosse enthusiast could assume that Canada, The USA and The Haudenosaunee would dominate, and indeed, each of these teams will take home a medal in the tournament.
Ireland were among the four teams who couldn't put a goal past the Canadian goalkeepers in the pool round, while England faced their toughest challenge against finalists, Team USA, who only let in goals from Iandra Lamplugh and Lauren Lewis in their pool match-up. This game was also the only one which didn't feature a goal or assist from ex-England field player and star of this tournament, Alex Drewe. The 26 year old leftie dominated at this World Championships, showing off her slick footwork and shooting accuracy in the box arena with a total of 23 goals and 11 assists. One of these goals sealed England's ticket to the quarter-finals just 12 seconds into overtime against The Netherland's, and can possibly be credited with the start of Drewe's very own chant which even the commentators couldn't help but get involved with in their final game.
During this match to decide on 5th place against Germany, England found themselves two goals behind with just over ten-minutes to go. Unphased, Drewe led the attack to a one-goal lead with an assist to fellow England field star, Laura Beaman, followed by a hat-trick of goals to take the score to 12-13. One minute and fourteen seconds later, Germany equalised, and another one minute and fourteen seconds after that, England's Rosie Bathurst scored her most important goal of the tournament to take the score to 13-14 where it remained until the final buzzer.
Of all England and Ireland players, Alex Drewe stormed ahead in the points table and is currently sat in 5th place out of 161 scorers. Sandwiched between Canadian and USA players who are currently playing in the gold medal match Drewe's final standing may alter slightly, but there's no changing the huge impact she has had on this England team and on women's box lacrosse across the world.