Our U18 sides continued their perfect start at the 2024 UK School games this afternoon.
Following two victories for our red sides yesterday, the whites secured two more wins over England whilst scoring seven goals.
On pitch two, the girls fell behind in the opening stages of the tie as an England forward drove into the circle before picking her spot and opening the scoring.
The lead wouldn’t last for long as Ulster equalised in the 19th minute as Laraw Wilson got her first of the afternoon.
The forwards solo effort saw her charge into the circle before slapping her effort into the bottom left corner from the penalty spot.
Just four minutes later the young Ulster side took the lead.
Defender Joni Cunningham did well to win the ball back in the middle of the park before her side worked it upfield leaving Grace McCool to finish at the back post.
The goal seemed to give the Ulster side a boost as they began to dominate the game before Lara Wilson added to her tally.
One minute into the second half, Jack Kyle’s side were awarded a penalty corner before Wilson’s straight strike from the top of the circle waa rifled into the bottom left corner.
90 seconds later the forward completed her hat-trick when her team broke down the right wing before she was left with a tap in at the near post.
Despite two late goals from England, the side were able to hold on as their lead was reduced to just one goal.
Meanwhile, in the boys game, a late Tom Archbold penalty stroke was required to seal a 3-2 win.
Cookstown’s Matt Barrett gave Ulster an early lead when he struck in the fifth minute of the tie when he deflected in from a long ball into the circle.
Having led for most of the fixture, they were pulled back by an England equaliser midway through the third period.
With 49 minutes on the clock, Ulster were once again ahead when captain Carter McClure struck from a penalty corner.
Having injected the set play, the ball was immediately returned to the defender before he deflected past the goalkeeper at the back post.
Unfortunately, just four minutes later, England were awarded a penalty stroke which was eventually converted to level the scoring in the dying stages.
Luckily the end-to-end game had one last goal as Ulster were awarded a stroke of their own with two minutes left to play.
Midfielder Tom Archbold stepped up to take and his effort just crossed the line after the goalkeeper got a strong hand to the effort.
The goal proved to be the winner as the Ulster Whites made it four wins from as many games for the province at the competition.
