Luxembourgish Lacrosse continues to expand; following a very tough World Championship, the country's sole men's team, the Luxembourg Blacksmiths, competed on Saturday 15 September in their first ever game in Division 2 of the Belgian Lacrosse League.
Fielding a team of 15 players and two coaches almost 300km away from the Grand Duchy spoke of the importance club and players had put on this. The opposition from Opueye has significantly more experience in this league and beat Luxembourg's local rival Namur Knights last year.
The game plan was to focus on fundamental game play, value possession of the ball on offense and minimize game play. The Blacksmiths played a convincing first quarter, controlling the game enough to win the first quarter with 3-0. Opeuye, whose main goal scorer would fail to produce against the disciplined defense and very effective marking by Jacky Liu and Oliver Greiner adjusted their game plan and delivered good improvements in their defensive. The team's inexperience showed and the Blacksmiths could not repeat the first quarter performance, leaving the half time score at 3-3.
Coach Henning Schmidt described the situation at halftime: "We surprised ourselves a little bit and spend the second quarter thinking rather than acting. Foxes were effective in their adjustment and we gave them back lost ground." The second half saw increasingly physical play from both sides, with several penalties served by both teams. Following a temporary lead by the Blacksmiths, Foxes eventually gained their only but crucial one goal lead and carried the win home. The Foxes' strength at the face-off made it increasingly difficult for Luxembourg to win much needed possession time. Face-off specialist for the day Michael Rasmussen had originally delivered well but eventually could not beat the much more experienced Belgian face-off specialist. Michael did produce one of the plays of the game, winning a contested ground ball after the face-off and finishing with a strong shot after marching through the Foxes' defense. Praise also went to the team's younger players, with Clemens Schusterschitz and Grayson Ritts playing very effectively in an age class four and two years their senior.
Overall, the game showed good talent in all sections of the team, with some luck and some experience missing for taking first points home to the Grand Duchy. Coach Schmidt described the result as 'optimal in terms of players' output, especially in the first half offensively and defensively throughout and frustratingly short in terms of goal success' but concluded that 'we are here and we are to stay. The other teams know our name now and we are very motivated to deliver more games like this, full of great team play and hustle all over the board. There is plenty of time to get ready for our home game on 7 October'.
Top scorer for Luxembourg was Hugo Coelho with two goals and one assist, followed by Cole Rittes (1G), Patrick Barbier (1G), Michael Rasmussen (1G). Goalkeeper Linus Föhr reported over 50% save rate on shots on goal.
The next game of the Luxembourg Blacksmiths is on Sunday, 7 October in Luxembourg. All details will be published on https://www.facebook.com/LuxembourgLacrosse/.
The team offers three practices a week and players of all levels and experience, especially beginners, are always welcome to join the team.
