The Ulster U16 sides finished their weekend series with the UK Lions with an unbeaten final day of results.
Two draws for our boys side were followed by back-to-back wins for the girls’, who won alll five games they played this weekend.
Girls:
Ulster took the lead with just eight minutes on the clock when Nyla Mallon saw her strike from the top of the circle well saved before Camryn Wilson converted the rebound from close range.
Toward the end of the first quarter, Ulster could’ve doubled their lead when Poppy Hannath beat several UK Lions defenders, driving into the circle before seeing her effort saved and winning a penalty corner.
With nothing coming from the resulting set play, the hosts took a slender 1-0 lead into the first break.
Just two minutes into the second period, UK Lions drew level, catching Ulster on the break before a forward placed her effort across the goal and picked out the bottom left corner to equalise.
However, with the half-time break looming, Ulster were back in front.
Driving through the centre of the pitch, Ava Cunningham’s ball into the circle picked out forward partner Grace Adamson, who deflected over the Lions goalkeeper to restore the Ulster lead.
Straight after the restart, the home lead was doubled by forward Zara Moyo.
A loose ball in the circle fell for the forward, who found herself in front of goal before picking out the bottom corner from point-blank range.
The end-to-end action continued with the visitors getting their second of the game, firing in from the top of the circle to keep themselves in the tie.
In their final game of the weekend, the young Ulster side came out on top in a nine-goal thriller.
A hat-trick from Martha McMurray alongside goals from Maddie Wilson, Emma Sloan and Camryn Wilson sealed the win despite three strikes from the visitors.
The 6-3 victory marked 5 wins from as many games for Davy Menaul’s side with the team set to face the Hockey Mentors later this month.
Boys:
The boys’ side ended their weekend with two strong performances, earning back-to-back draws against their visitors.
First, they were held to a 3-3 draw before the afternoon’s fixture saw the sides remain goalless after 70 minutes.
In the morning’s tie, goals from Josh Aiken, Charlie Keys and Carter Lunn saw the side take the lead three times, but the side were pegged on each occasion, including a goal with just five minutes to go.
Meanwhile, in their second game of the day and final match of the series, neither side could find a breakthrough as the score remained goalless.