KORFBALL - Varsity Match 2011

Friday 25 February 2011

With the previous two Varsity Matches being won by Cambridge, 10-8 and 18-8, and having recently found good form in the local league, Cambridge came into the 2011 Varsity Match with high hopes of emulating last years roaring victory. However, captain Nicolas Buttinger, in his first and only year as captain, was soon to realise this was not the case.

Cambridge started brightly, with Buttinger’s division in first attack, and the captain came close with a couple of testing long shots, which just didn’t want to sink. They were duly assisted in their attempts by the Cambridge defending half, who were limiting Oxford to one shot attacks, and Cambridge were soon rewarded for their hard work with a penalty, converted by Buttinger, awarded after some delightful attacking play by the home team. If Cambridge thought this was a sign that a scoring fest was about to begin they would have been wrong. Oxford hit the ground running at the throw off, with Max Power justifying his name with a well worked goal to bring the score level at 1 a piece.

This really set the tone for the next 15 minutes of the first half, with neither team able to pull out a two-goal lead, despite some lovely attacking play by Sophie Harley-Mckeown’s (CUKC President) division. The decisive moment came 5 minutes from the end of the first half, after a prolonged spell of Oxford pressure, which succeeded only in silencing the large Cambridge support. With the captain cutting a frustrated figure, and their coach not faring too well either, Thomas Hodges decided to pull out two quick goals from what appears to be a promising bag of talent, to bring the score to 5-3. Chants of “Easy” started to emanate from the large Caius contingent, championed by the head of the Kosciuszko dynasty, however it can be safe to say this match was turning out to be anything but easy.

Half time gave both teams time to reflect and adjust their tactics, and although Oxford started brightly with a goal in the first few minutes, a missed penalty by Oxford and goals from both Cambridge divisons meant they were able to keep their two goal lead The light blues seemed home and dry after Buttinger scored a running in shot to make it 10-8 with 2 minutes remaining. However as with any game there is sometimes a sting in the tail, and Cambridge definitely came close to being stung.

With two minutes on the clock remaining, the Captain gave away a penalty to Oxford. Despite remonstrating with the referee over the decision, Oxford remained composed in the face of enormous pressure, created by the silence of the previously vocal crowd, and converted to bring the score to 10-9. Cambridge tried to keep the ball in their attacking half with some clever play, however the referee blew them up for time wasting, which set in motion a tense final attack by Oxford in a hope of at least forcing a draw. Despite a couple of shots hitting the rim, it seemed to be Cambridge’s day, and jubilation, plus a great deal of relief, spread through the Cambridge players as the final whistle was blown, capping off what was the closest and most exciting Varsity Match for a long time.

Cambridge team (goals): Nicolas Buttinger (5), Iain Cheetham, Thomas Hodges (3), Benjamin Chia, Krystyna Kosciuszko, Ying-Mei Wong, Sophie Harley-Mckeown (1) and Natalie Cook (1).