Liverpool Handball Club women’s team beat Oxford 17-31 in their EHA National Cup quarter-final game away from home to progress to the next round.
After beating NEM Hawks in their round of 16 matchup, Liverpool travelled to Northampton to play Oxford in their semi-final.
The visiting team started the game looking strong, despite some early turnovers, and went out to an early two goal lead.
Oxford, without any substitutes, fought back to keep the goal gap close but with almost 12 minutes played had to take their first timeout with a 4-7 deficit.
Liverpool continued to apply pressure and after 15 minutes of gameplay they had grown their lead to 9-4.
In the 18th minute Oxford suffered another blow when one of their players went down injured and, without any substitutes, had to go down to five players.
The home side were forced to take their second timeout down 5-12 in order to substitute their injured outfield player into goal and move their goalkeeper to the outfield after another one of their players became ill.
By the end of the first half, Liverpool were in a strong position with a 7-15 lead.
At the beginning of the second half Oxford were back up to a full outfield of six players with their injured player in goal.
Scoring from Oxford’s Emilie Hovland Nordstad and En Tong kept the home side afloat during the second half.
Despite this, Liverpool continued to pile on the goals and Madison Baycroft seemed near unstoppable as she ended the game with seven goals to her name, earning her team’s Player of the Match honours in the process.
Oxford’s struggles and consistency from the away side meant that the final whistle blew with Liverpool’s Women ahead 17-31 as they progressed to the semi-finals of the EHA National Cup.
Post-Match
After the game, Liverpool’s starting centre Tosca Knight said that the speed of Liverpool’s attack and fastbreaks played a key part in their win.
In particular she praised Madison Baycroft for her performance as she said: “Maddie’s windmill was really good today, and she was just unstoppable.”
Looking forward to the semi-finals she said: “we’re looking really strong… it should be a good game.”
(Feature image: Jack Lambert)
