After the season that never was it was great to see the U16s return to competitive hockey, with a number of players moving up to the age group.
From the whistle the Carlisle players were attacking with some lovely fast passing hockey from Bex Illidge and Blythe Jackson in the middle. This created the room for player of the match Rose Dunning to use her pace down the right wing and within minutes had secured their first penalty corner. A clean strike from Molly Skeer caught a Lancaster and Morecambe deflection to open the scoring. Carlisle continued to work hard moving the ball well with decisive running from Fern Roberts and Sophie Wilson up front, which saw both of them add to the score sheet.
With more goals from Blythe Jackson and Kate Irving the score at half time was 5 - 0.
Carlisle were determined to keep up the pressure but Lancaster and Morecambe had other ideas, having some good runs and getting into the Carlisle circle and winning a penalty corner. Carlisle remained composed with goalie Tess Percival making a great clearance. The defensive unit of Kate Irving, Ruby Mounsey and Lauren Gant worked well together to close down the opposition, distributing the ball to the midfield to build attacks down the left with Bella Kerr and Grace Heaney. After a couple of near misses Fern Roberts' strike from the edge of the D found the back of the goals. This seemed to spur on the team and was quickly followed by a couple of goals from Sophie Wilson, who constantly hassled the defense throughout the game. Rose Dunning and Bex Illidge added to the scoring through their quick reactions in front of goal, ending the game with a 10 - 0 win to Carlisle.
The match was played in good spirits and the opposition enjoyed their post match refreshments at The Turf.