There was snow across the hills of the UK. A random flurry in Cambridge was spied by at least two members of the team… Winter was indeed coming for Cambridge Nomads, particularly because Louisa’s new weapon(/stick) was having its first outing. Their team started with some pressure and within ten minutes South had conceded two short corners. It soon evened out and with a few breakthroughs from South it was two-all (short corners, not goals). From one of these there was a goalline scramble. The ball was slipped out to Zara, who was clearly battle ready with her cat-like reactions and volleyed it into the goal. ONE NIL TO SOUTH!!!!! Clearly this gave South an injection of intensity because in the next minute another short corner meant another goal, this time sneaked in by Rhi. TWO NIL TO SOUTH!!! The rest of the half we stayed strong and Nomads barely had a look in. Ended with a short with the whole team up. Would it be THREE NIL TO SOUTH at half time? No. It wouldn’t.

The second half the Nomads came back a little stronger. After a short very enthusiastically (if a bit early) defended, Nomads scored an unstoppable goal. In the heat of the ensuing battle some fell (Rhi, Louisa and Emily all earning LoM votes for these), some were pushed (even if Kath didn’t notice and had to have it pointed out by the umpire), and at one point a Nomads player needed an ice pack. This, offered by umpire JJ, came spinning through the air with such backspin that it nearly hit Zara in the face - but in the end it boomeranged wonkily until it landed at his feet. LoM votes were definitely deserved there. After this, possibly attempting their revenge, Nomads kept up pressure on us. Lydia made loads of quite frankly epic saves, earning her joint MoM. Emily made plenty of breakaway runs and we had a few more nail-biting attempts on goal. Nomads then conceded a free hit, where Louisa (and her new stick) sent the ball hard at the perfect angle and, with the sort of teamwork that makes the dream work, it was guided along its route expertly and with flair by Rhi (who shares MoM with Lydia) so that it landed inside the near post. THREE ONE TO SOUTH!!! THE CROWD WENT WILD!!!

Nomads kept us on our toes but couldn’t claw back a victory. MoM votes for each of Laurie, Kath, Ani, Jas and Louisa: winners were jointly Lydia and Rhi. LoM votes for each of Emily, Louisa, and Rhi: overall winner of today’s Lemon award to JJ.