Roses 2019: Saturday Round-Up and Sunday Preview

05/05/2019

Roses 2019 looks set to go to the wire as Saturday's action fails to separate the two roses

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Image by Patrick Hook-Willers

By Patrick Hook-Willers and George Cook

The Saturday of Roses 2019 saw a big push towards the victory from the White Rose of York. The morning was a rich picking ground for York, winning 44.5 points in a range of sports from Sailing through to Squash. Lancaster had their fair share of big victories as well however, scoring big 4-point wins in the Lacrosse Men’s, Ultimate Frisbee Women’s Outdoor and the Chess.

The afternoon started off with a white flurry, York taking maximum points in just the first hour from Squash 2nd (2-0), Hockey Women’s 2nd (6-0), Fencing Men’s 1st (123-118), Debating (10-8) and Ultimate Frisbee Outdoor Men’s (8-7).

Eight points were split in the pool as Lancaster Men and York Women took all their respective  available points in a repeat of 2018. The Tennis Men’s 1st side of York brought home four points with a 6-3 win, before a narrow win in Darts Women’s 1st saw those tennis points pegged back.

York’s Street, Jazz, Tap and Ballet Dancers won 4-2 in Vanbrugh Dining Hall before Football Women’s 1st missed out on a win due to a late Lancaster equaliser, drawing 2-2 at the final whistle.

Lancaster’s Fencing Women’s 1st win kept their university in touch with the York tally, the home side managing to keep them at bay with a landslide 3-0 victory in Volleyball Women’s 1st and Hockey Women’s 1st shortly after.

The tide started to turn red slightly after 15:00 though, Lancaster stealing back 24 points with a series of high-profile wins in Handball Men’s 1st (8-23), Squash Men’s 1st (1-4), Octopush (2-14), Hockey Men’s 1st (2-3, Canoe Polo Open (3-7) and Football Men’s 1st (2-0).

The afternoon was finished by a split of points, Lancaster winning 12 from Pool Women’s (4-5), Trampolining Open (0-4) and Water Polo Men’s (13-20), while York scored 12 as well in Canoe Polo Women’s A (4-2), Handball Women’s (16-11) and Volleyball Men’s (4-0).

The evening held the highlights for any spectators at Roses, the Darts, which was a very rowdy affair (trust me on that) and was won by York by a score of 6-3. University Challenge was an incredibly close run event, a victory for the home team being snatched on a decider question after a 265-265 draw led to a tie breaker which York answered correctly to win 275-265. The Basketball Men’s, which after the Opening Ceremony comeback in 2017 promised to be an enthralling match, lived up to all expectations, and then some! Lancaster and York were tied on 77-77 with just 1.3 seconds left on the buzzer, when Lancaster missed two free-throws forcing the match into overtime, where York got into the faces of Lancaster to take an 87-80 win!

With just 28.5 points between the two sides, the Sunday of Roses 2019 promises to be one of the best in the tournament’s history as crucial and popular fixtures like Rugby takes centre stage with both Union and League fixtures taking place in the early afternoon, and then taking prime place for the Closing Ceremony as York’s Rugby Union Women’s 1st XV look to see us out with a bang.

The score is poised at York 148.5, Lancaster 120 going into the final day, and although a York win is expected, don't take it for granted. This one is going right to the wire…

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