Lacrosse National Schools' Championships 2024

15 March 2024

Stowe sent five teams to the England Lacrosse National Schools’ Championships 2024, an open competition from Saturday 9 - Tuesday 12 March. This has been a banner year for the program, with excellent finishes from a number of sides. 

1st X 

The premier squad led by captains Emily Watson (Upper Sixth, West) and Maddie Baker (Lower Sixth, Queen’s) has had the best finish for several years. On day one, the team recorded a win against Uppingham 7-0, with losses to Berkhamsted, Westonbirt, St Pauls and a close run match against Haileybury at the end of the day. This would put Stowe into Division 2 for the second day of competition. 

Fortunes were reversed on the Sunday, winning two out of the three games in the divisional box in the morning - 6-0 against Harrogate Ladies’ College, 7-0 against local competition Tudor Hall and a 4-1 loss against St Bartholomew’s. On to the knockouts, the last 16 was against King’s Canterbury which ended in a 5-2 win, followed by Heathfield where the team played an incredible game, possessing the ball for three minutes at the end of play finishing with the final goal.  

In the Semi-Finals, Stowe 1st X put in a commanding performance over Queen Margaret’s School 6-2 to get them into the Finals. The last opponent was Fettes College from Scotland. The score was 2-2 at half time, but a strong draw possession unit from Fettes kept the ball out of our sticks for the first four minutes of half time, scoring four times. Two from Stowe brought the scoreline closer, but in the end was too little, too late. 

The team played their best lacrosse of the year and should be extremely proud of their podium finish. There were some excellent performances across the board, in particular Emelia Brett as the top points scorer. Gwen Grovit (Lower Sixth, Nugent) in midfield put enormous pressure on top opposing players, faceguarding a few out of the game. The player of the tournament was Captain Emily Watson (Upper Sixth, West), who did not leave the field all weekend, didn’t put a foot (or a stick) wrong, and led the defence masterfully every game.

To read the full report from all teams, please click here.