On Saturday (7 September), the University of Bath and Hillcroft LC won the 2019 Bath Eights competition.

Both teams claimed their first title, with the University of Bath becoming the first ever team from Bath to win at the Bath Eights.

They also become just the third team to win the women’s tournament after Stockport Lacrosse Club (2017) and Bristol Bombers (2018).

Bath beat last year’s winners, Bristol Bombers, 7-6 in a nail-biting final which took sudden-death over-time to decide as it finished 4-4 after regular time and 6-6 after over-time.

In the men’s competition, Hillcroft overcame Hitchin in their semi-final before defeating Mellor 6-1 in the final to become the third new name on the trophy in the past 10 years and just the 14th different side to win the men’s competition in its 34-year history.

The 2019 Bath 8s was the biggest yet with 32 men’s and 10 women’s teams taking part.

This is pretty remarkable as Bath is outside the traditional lacrosse heartlands of Manchester and the South-East and started from virtually nothing way back in 1986.

It’s since become a staple of the pre-season and is always a highly competitive and sought after trophy.

Well done from England Lacrosse to all the teams and players that took part and we can’t wait for the 2020 tournament!