Cambridge have beaten Oxford 5-3 on shuffles to win the 121st Men’s Varsity Hockey Match following a 1-1 draw at the close of play, denying Oxford the double after they beat Cambridge 1-0 in the women’s fixture earlier this afternoon.

Oxford pushed back at 15:35 and set off an intense first quarter. In the first minute Oxford forced Cambridge goalkeeper Toby Fairhurst into making a double save, which was instantly followed by an Oxford penalty corner. Unable to capitalise, Oxford found themselves on the back foot, with Cambridge defender Hantian Wang played in behind. Having squared it into the middle, Jamie Rintoul swept the ball into the goal, following a goalmouth scramble, making it 1-0 to Cambridge after four minutes. What remained of the first half was marked by few chances, and remained very tight. Some good defensive work from Cambridge’s Ed Tyler ensured Oxford’s Joshua Keeling was unable to equalise and Oxford’s Joshua Nurse managed to put the ball in the net right before half time but from well outside the D. Otherwise, Oxford failed to take advantage of their two additional first half penalty corners, leaving the score at 1-0 at half time.

The two teams were impossible to split in the third quarter, despite a swathe of penalty corners from Cambridge. Fairhurst continued his good work in goal to keep Cambridge from extending their lead. 6 minutes in to the quarter, Oxford’s Josh Nurse and Hugo Middle had good opportunities to score, but couldn’t take advantage. 1 minute into additional time in the third quarter, Oxford midfielder Arthur Hughes was able to bury a shot from the right side of the circle to tie the game at 1-1, having been awarded a short corner. An even and scrappy fourth quarter was marked by two late Cambridge penalty corners, neither of which were converted, with captain Jonathan Parke shooting wide to the right. Immediately after, Arthur Hughes broke away and earned his side a last-minute penalty corner. Having missed their opportunity to steal a win, the game ended 1-1, requiring shuffles to decide the tie.

Both sides scored their first two, but Arthur Hughes, who had played well during the game for Oxford, missed his, while Jonathan Parke scored, leaving the shuffles score at 3-2, with two each left to take. Both sides then converted their fourth shuffles, but, Ed Tyler, Cambridge’s captain last year and this year’s president, scored the fifth and final shuffle to put the game out of reach. The shuffles score, therefore, ended as 5-3.

This comes after last year’s emphatic 5-0 victory over Oxford. The match was held at Southgate Hockey Centre in North London, which has hosted the Varsity matches since 2003. No spectators were permitted to attend, however the match was live streamed.

Usually, the Varsity hockey matches would take place on the second Sunday in March, however, due to the ongoing lockdown regulations, it was postponed for two months. Last year, the games took place (01/03) days before the first national lockdown. Ed Tyler, President of CUHC, admitted to Bluebird that “organising these Varsities has certainly been a unique experience,” given that it had been expected to go ahead at the end of Lent Term and both sides were forced to “adjust [their] plans at fairly short notice.”

This afternoon sees Cambridge’s men extend their win streak to three in a row, with Cambridge’s domination of the tie extending from 8 wins to 9 (56-47).

Squads

Cambridge: 1 - Toby Fairhurst (GK), 2 - Hantian Wang, 3 - Oliver Philips, 5 - Sean Gilmore, 8 - Jamie Rintoul, 9 - Bill Taylor, 10 - Harry Atkins, 11 - Jonathan Parke (Capt), 12 - Jack England, 14-Rushmore Ben, 16 - Gerrit Farren, 17 - Ethan Francis, 19 - Marcus Jones, 31 - Edward Tyler, 44 - Sebastian Shaw, 111 - Aravind Prabhakaran (GK)

Oxford: 0 - Christopher Perera (GK), 1 - Sam Krasner (GK), 2 - Henry Patteson, 4 - Johann Perera (Capt), 5 - Aaron Goss, 7 - Joshua Keeling, 8 - William Thompson, 9 - Fred Newbold, 10 - George Holding, 14 - Thomas Davies, 15 - Josh Self, 17 - Thomas Goldberg, 21 - Arthur Hughes, 22 - Joshua Nurse, 33 - Hugo Middle, 88 - Bradley Young, 98 - Oliver Jones