Pictured: England defender Dave Cottam
By Neil Goulding (English Lacrosse Press Officer, 07813 859986)
ENGLAND's men slipped to a 14-1 defeat to Johns Hopkins in their second tour match of America.
Having impressed in an 11-8 defeat to Loyola Greyhounds in their opening match on Monday, the national side found Hopkins a much tougher proposition.
Down 3-0 Tom Gosnay scored England's only goal of the game, but the hosts ran away with the match as might be expected with a string of star players amongst their ranks.
Dave Elwood, the England head coach, reflected: "We didn't play well tonight [against Hopkins], but we played well last night [against Loyola]. We're here to learn and it's been a good test for everyone so far."
A view shared by Ravi Sitlani, one of Team England's managers, who added: "We've a learnt a lot already, it's a very fast and steep learning curve for us. It's been good for all the team.
"[The] 2010 [World Cup] is going to be exciting, it's the biggest World Cup ever and has grown and grown. It's going to be great. It's going to be a fantastic event."
Ben McAllister, one of four England goalkeepers on tour with the national side, also spoke for the first time about how the tour is going so far.
"It's been a tough tour, we've learnt a lot already in the clinics before the matches and then in the games," said McAllister.
"It's a tough standard and we're learning every minute of every day.
"As a goalkeeper the standard in England from shot percentages to shot speed it not up to this level, so it's a good test for all the goalkeepers.
"We're working hard and want to improve on our position from [the] 2006 [World Cup]. We'll have the home support, so everyone is looking forward to it."
International Results - American tour: Johns Hopkins 14 England 1, Loyola 11 England 8
Remaining matches - GMT + 5 hours
Wednesday - Lehigh 7pm
Thursday - Princeton 7pm
Friday - Drexel 7pm
Saturday - Hofstra 7pm
Sunday - New Yotk Athletic Club
**Anyone wanting to watch highlights of the opening twos matcesh can do so by clicking on this link - http://www.e-lacrosse.com/content/videos/2009/2009hopeng.php
Note to editors - for more information on English Lacrosse visit www.englishlacrosse.co.uk
Also why not visit the official Manchester 2010 World Cup site as the excitement builds ahead of next year's tournament www.2010worldlacrosse.com
And our social networking sites - www.twitter.com/2010_lacrosse, www.2010worldlacrosse.blogspot.com and http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6380164361&ref=ts
To contact English Lacrosse - The Belle Vue Centre, Pink Bank Lane, Longsight, Manchester, M12 5GL. Tel: 0161 227 3626 Fax 0161 953 2459 Email: info@englishlacrosse.co.uk
