England men claimed two victories in their three games against international competition at the annual E-Box event in Radotin, Czechia over the weekend.
With just five months to go until the 2024 World Lacrosse Men’s Box Championship in Utica, USA, the E-Box event was an excellent opportunity for Head Coach Walt Christianson and his coaching team to assess the players as they continue to prepare for the biggest competition in box lacrosse.
England’s opening game saw them take on Europe’s fourth placed team, Finland; England started strong with a high pressure defence, great foot speed, and high-quality shooting seeing them open up a 9-4 lead towards the end of the first half.
Several England penalties in the second half allowed Finland to get back into the game (they scored six goals and only conceded two between the 26th and 37th minutes) and, with the score 13-12, another England penalty with nine seconds remaining gave Finland the opportunity to force a penalty shootout but the defence held firm to see out the game.
A highly anticipated game on Sunday had England face the hosts, Czechia, in the two sides’ first meeting since England’s famous 13-12 semi-final victory at the Euros two years ago.
On home soil, Czechia were always coming into the game as favourites but England held resolute, conceding just three goals in the first quarter.
In the offence, England had lost the spark seen in their opening game and could only score once, late in the second quarter, as the teams went in for their half-time break.
Early in the second half, the home team hit the gas to jump to a 10-1 lead but England rallied, found their offensive mojo, incurred no penalties, and went on a run of goals to bring the score back to 8-12 with eight minutes remaining.
It proved to be too big of a mountain to climb for England, however, and Czechia scored two late goals to see the game out.
England's final game on Monday morning was against the Canadian Lacrosse League (CLL) representative team. Like England, they had won one and lost one of their first two games.
More superb defence from England, a theme throughout the E-Box event, saw the game tied at 3-3 with one quarter down.
The England offence then kicked into gear with powerful outside shooting and precision passing around the crease allowing England to jump to a 9-3 lead.
CLL pulled a few back but England were now in control, scoring on transition as their opposition tired and, crucially, stayed out of the penalty box as the game finished 13-9 to England.
Watch all the action from ShE-Box 2024 HERE.
England (m) 13-12 Finland (5-2, 4-4, 1-3, 3-3)
England scorers: Matt Marsh (3G), Oliver Allsop (2G), Silas Burke (1G), Jamie Powell (1G), Elliot Leonard (1G, 2A), Luke Mills-Doig (1G, 1A), Sam Perry (1G, 1A), Ming Trinh (1G, 1A), Taylor Harrison (1G), Albert Whitehead (1G), Ben Buchanan (3A), Tom Hallam (1A), Ben Page-Laycock (1A)
Czechia 14-8 England (m) (3-0, 4-1, 4-3, 3-4)
England scorers: Matt Marsh (3G), Ben Page-Laycock (2G), Jamie Powell (2G), Elliot Leonard (1G, 3A), Oliver Allsop (2A), Sam Perry (1A), Ming Trinh (1A)
CLL 9-13 England (m) (3-3, 1-6, 3-3, 2-1)
England scorers: Matt Marsh (3G, 1A), Elliot Leonard (3G), Ben Page-Laycock (2G), Jamie Powell (2G), Silas Burke (1G, 1A), Tom Roper (1G), Matt Tatton (1G), Ben Buchanan (2A), Ming Trinh (2A), Oliver Allsop (1A), Tom Roche (1A)
England Top Scorers
Matt Marsh | 10 (9G, 1A)
Elliot Leonard | 10 (5G, 5A)
Jamie Powell | 5 (5G)
Ben Page-Laycock | 5 (4G, 1A)
Oliver Allsop | 5 (2G, 3A)
Ming Trinh | 5 (1G, 4A)
Ben Buchanan | 5 (5A)
Silas Burke | 3 (2G, 1A)
Sam Perry | 3 (1G, 2A)
Luke Mills-Doig | 2 (1G, 1A)
Taylor Harrison | 1 (1G)
Tom Roper | 1 (1G)
Matt Tatton | 1 (1G)
Albert Whitehead | 1 (1G)
Tom Hallam | 1 (1A)
Tom Roche | 1 (1A)
