Although we had just returned from the winter break, with only three weeks until the first round of Uni Champs, we decided to test the team with two friendly matches: Imperial and UCL agreed to visit Cambridge on a Sunday morning to play us in a friendly mini-tournament.
Cambridge vs Imperial (16-14)
After a short warm up the game was underway: Cambridge men took a little longer to get into a rhythm which allowed Imperial to go in front with a couple of long range shots. However, at 7-4 down a few tight defences followed by successful fast-breaks saw us draw level and it was clear that we were in it to win it. Our defence, kept improving as we were swapping through the team supporting Dan in goal who saved all shots from the wings. This meant that more fast-breaks followed and were converted into goals, most of them by Thomas (our right wing) who put in a lot of miles during this 30 minute matches. A flowing attack as well as an excellent defence saw Cambridge to take the victory with 16 to 14.
Imperial vs UCL (10-14)
Next, it was London derby time. The two teams stayed level for the first few minutes, with both UCL and Imperial goalkeepers making excellent saves. It was UCL then who went ahead through their right back and centre players as both found their range and broke through the defence. The tempo was an intense one but more mistakes in the attack of Imperial and long range shots from UCL put them ahead to win 14-10.
Cambridge vs UCL (18-5)
Cambridge men were expecting a tough battle given the result in the previous match so they were determined to start well. Once again, their defence was their strongest offence with captain Florian Stroehl in the centre stealing many balls and launching Thomas and Peter on many successful fast-breaks. Max on the right back broke through the lines of the UCL defence to score 3 times, as a result of great team play. One of the newest players Lasse scored his first goal from the 7m line. Kudos to Bence who annihilated no 2 of UCL, one of their strongest shooters. Both the attack and defence improved throughout the match, sign that the Cambridge men were having a fun time to win over UCL with an impressive 18-5 despite excellent goalkeeping from UCL.
Thank you to everyone for coming along and playing, we had a lot of fun and cannot wait until next time! Special thanks go to Jakub from Imperial and Felix from UCL for their help in organizing this mini-tournament as well as to Theresa who gave a couple of hours of her Sunday to help with the table!
Cambridge will meet Imperial again in February when they hope to take the victory again in their group in the first round of Uni Champs.