Saturday the 3rd of December, was a chilly start to the morning but shortly the sun was blazing out when the match begun with Keswick’s push back. Right from the whistle, Carlisle was pressing onto Keswick, forcing them to pass back. Using this to our advantage, our forward players Meredith Kerr and Sophie Wilson, worked as a team to put in plenty of strong tackles and gain the ball. Sophie used her immaculate stick skills and speed to get around the defenders and have multiple shots on goal, 3 of which went in! Meredith ensured that she was in a good position for Sophie to pass to and was consistently at the top of the D ready for any deflections when attacking.

In times of Keswick’s hit outs. The trio of Grace Heaney, Blythe Jackson, and Hannah MacKay on a rotation of 7 minutes at a time in positions of inside left and right midfield, did an excellent job of surrounding the player with the ball to prevent the ball getting through any gaps. Multiple times the ball was stopped in our attacking half before it could even get through, and from this the midfield were able to put together lovely short sharp passes which allowed them to get around the opposition at ease.

There were a few occasions where Keswick's strong balls snuck through into our defensive half towards there high forwards. However this wasn’t an issue for our fast-paced wide defenders, Hattie Kerr and Bella Kerr, as they were able to watch the ball out and then go on to send brilliant strong hit outs. Debs Dunning, in centre defence, was on it marking Keswick’s high forward and was able to post up to the ball to pass it out wide, before Keswick even got a chance.

A couple of defensive short corners occurred in favour of Keswick. The strong back line plus Martha Ord as sweeper and Darcey Mitchinson the goal keeper managed to get the ball out successfully both times. Martha, running 1, in the first short corner managed to stop the ball straight away and pass it out wide to the wings.

Left midfield Jess Evans and right midfield Freya Hodgson both relentlessly ran up and down the wings to support both the defence and also be in the perfect position for them to pass to. As well as this they stayed in line with the other centre midfielders to be an option to pass to. Multiple times both Freya and Jess received the ball wide and made phenomenal runs aiding the teams overall success of performance, not only through keeping possession but also by getting the ball into the D to have lots of shots on goal. Jess Evans gained 3 goals for the team and Freya 1, bringing the score to 7-3 to Carlisle!

So overall, it was a fantastic game for Carlisle. Each player gave it there all and even when Keswick did score a goal, the team spirits and determination to win remained high. Well done everyone!

Congratulations to our Player of the Match this week, Sophie Wilson & Martha Ord, and thank you to our Player of the Match sponsor Stanwix News .
A huge thank you to our team sponsor also, Country House Outdoors, for supporting us this season.