Royal rout by NULHC

Mollison hat-trick heads 9-0 thrashing of Liverpool John Moores

Women’s Hockey 

Newcastle 1sts 9-0 LJMU

Newcastle University Ladies Hockey made up for the previous weeks set back with a stonking 9-0 win over Liverpool John Moores in the BUCS 1A league.

The home side were determined to overturn their 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture and soon enforced their dominance on the game. Centre-midielder, Nicki Mollison, made a driving run up the pitch, passing to Jenna Watt, who fed a perfectly placed ball across the D for waiting fresher, Liz Shedden, to give the Royals the lead. ‘Absolutely Textbook’ commented keen supporter and horticulturalist Laura Kennedy.

From then on the Royals continued to pepper the John Moores goal. Numerous shots on goal and displays of skill from forward Shedden allowed Newcastle to win a series of short corners.  The second was converted into a goal by a well positioned strike by Vice-Captain Sophie McClean.

Any advances across the halfway line by John Moores were halted easily halted and cleared by wing backs Susanne Haddock-Kempe and Hattie Cunningham. One such clearance allowed a brilliant run of play between Erika Coakley and Rachael ‘Pink eye’ Clements and allowed Charlotte Howatson to score her first goal of the day.

The positive run by Newcastle was slightly marred by an out of character green card awarded to Club president Holly Radcliffe – clearly angered by the aggressive play from LJMU.  However, Newcastle soon regained composure and a fourth goal was scored, courtesy of Nicki Mollison who caught the ball mid volley and slammed it into the back of the net. This 4-0 lead remained until the end of the first half despite more shots by Jenna Watt, and thanks to seamless defensive play by full backs Olivia O’Malley and Milly Powers.

The second half started with LJMU reverting once more to their dirty tactics, resulting in Liz Shedden being squished by a sizeable opponent. Fury from the Newcastle team made them even more determined to put the game to bed. Jenna Watt soon continued to the annihilation of the travelling side, with the fifth goal of the match, her famous chant bellowed out from the bench.

Now the race was really on between Watt and Mollison to score the most goals and achieve possession of the white card for the evening ahead. Mollison soon proved her desire for all those free drinks and scored a magnificent goal making the total 6-0 overall.

The Royals continuted to battle in the Liverpool and D and were soon rewared a flick wich was dispatched by Captain Alice Hogg.

Content with their 7-0 lead Newcastle allowed a moment of laziness and gave stand-in goalie Izzy Rice a chance to show off her skill, slide tackling an oncoming Liverpool player and preventing a potential goal. Regaining focus, Newcastle saw the game out with two magnificent goals from Jenna Watt, an excellent team goal worked up from the back, and Nicki Mollison, an excellently placed short corner strike.

Club president Holly Radcliffe commented on the game saying although her green card was ‘completely unjustified, that was a really fun game’.

This immense win should give the Royals confidence when they face league rivals Manchester firsts in the semi final of the Trophy this week.