Czech Republic await England in the semi-finals of the 2022 European Box Lacrosse Championship after a brilliant 19-7 win over Sweden in their quarter-final match.
Dan Watson and Lyndon Bunio, who have been unplayable at times during the tournament so far, scored four goals each, taking their individual tallies to nine and 12 respectively.
And despite an early showing from Sweden in the first quarter and somewhat of a comeback in the third, England were good for the win.
England started with intent and found themselves in front after just 20 seconds when Elliot Leonard continued his fantastic scoring run with a simple finish just outside the crease.
Shortly after, Bunio scored his first of the day after some deceptive work between him and Watson left the Sweden defence for dead and he was able to finish with ease.
Sweden proved they weren’t just there to make up the numbers, however, as they regrouped and scored first through Kevin Powers and then through August Snyder to equalise.
With this wake-up call in mind, England kicked into gear at the end of the first quarter and Dave Groves bagged a goal before Jordi Jones-Smith and Ming Trinh bullied a Sweden defender back over the halfway line to allow Tyson Roe to pick up the resulting dead ball, sprint towards goal and finish.
The second quarter followed much of the same script except England seemed intent on killing the game early with a string of goals.
Tom Bracegirdle emulated the goal he scored in the previous game against Switzerland by catching the ball in space, powering towards goal, feigning to go high, then finishing with a low shot with Bunio scoring his second, and England’s sixth, shortly after before Watson hit his first of the game.
Then England hit a bit of a rocky patch as they had a series of penalties called against them resulting in them playing two men down for a large chunk of the second quarter.
But once they were back level on players, they continued their run of fine finishing; Jones-Smith scored a rare but impressive eighth for England as he received the ball with his back to goal, blocked the defenders attempts at checking, before turning and scoring with a diving shot and Leonard completed the half’s goals as he hammered the ball past the Sweden goalie from range.
At half-time, Head Coach, Walt Christianson’s instructions were for England to kill the game off and his players seemed intent on fulfilling his wishes early in the third, with Groves and Trinh scoring before Bunio’s impressive individual goal, with as casual a finish you’re ever likely to see, completing his hat-trick.
A Jamie Powell goal came just before a period dominance from the opposition as Sweden scored three without reply, despite Eliot Pugh’s best efforts in the England goal.
Those five minutes in the third quarter proved to come back to haunt the Sweden players as England began their own six goal without reply run after being clearly irked by Sweden’s goals.
Watson scored his second after some tireless work from Powell, Bunio evaded the Sweden defenders and claimed his fourth, Watson completed his hat-trick and then snatched a fourth, finishing a superb passage of England play in style, Ben Buchanan scored his first goal at the tournament much to the delight of his team mates, and Trinh finished the scoring with 20 seconds left to wrap up the game for his team.
In the late quarter-final game, Czech Republic overcame Switzerland in a 23-5 rout to set-up a mouthwatering semi-final tie with England tomorrow at 15.30pm BST that you can watch HERE.
England Points: Tom Bracegirdle (1G 1A), Lyndon Bunio (4G 3A), Ben Buchanan (1G), Dave Groves (2G), Jordi Jones-Smith (1G 1A), Elliot Leonard (2G 2A), Jamie Powell (1G 3A), Tyson Roe (1G), Ming Trinh (2G), Dan Watson (4G 3A).
England MVP: Eliot Pugh.
Thursday 4 August Schedule (times BST)
Belgium v Austria | 08.45am | Cons.
Ireland v Netherlands | 09.30 | Cons.
Sweden v Switzerland | 12.30pm | sf2
Slovakia v Scotland | 12.45pm | sf1
England v Czech Republic | 15.30pm | SF1
Germany v Finland | 18.30pm | SF2