Ulster Elks have finished their League season with a one hundred percent record as they beat Lurgan 6-2 on the final day.
The win makes it eighteen straight wins as they finished the season 12 points clear of second their opponent.
Elks got off to a flying start and went ahead with just over a minute played when Alex Speers was on hand to deflect Shannon Atkinson’s effort into the bottom corner.
However, their lead didn’t last long as just five minutes later Lurgan’s Leanne Thompson saw her strike from the edge of the circle come off a defenders stick and wrong foot the goalkeeper to make it 1-1.
The quick start to the game continued when Speers made it 2-1 before the end of the first quarter. The forward received the ball in the penalty area before quickly getting a shot off on her reverse and restoring her sides lead.
It was 3-1 just before half time as Serena Barr’s initial strike from a penalty corner was well saved by visiting goalkeeper Jade Lamont, but Charlotte Beggs found herself unmarked at the back post to tap in the rebound.
A dominant UUJ performance continued into the third quarter as Atkinson added a fourth goal for the home side after being played through one on one by Barr.
Barr nearly added one of her own two minutes into the final period, she beat her marker in the area before getting a snapshot off from the penalty spot, but her effort went narrowly wide at the near post.
It was 4-2 just moments later when Elks goalkeeper Gemma Ferguson was deemed to have stopped a goal scoring penalty and a penalty stroke was awarded. Lydia McNeill stepped up take and found the bottom right corner.
Serena Barr finally did get her goal in the closing stages as she finished off a fantastic solo run with a strike from the top of the penalty area to find the far corner.
However, there was still time for Lucy Craig to add another as her straight strike from a penalty corner rounded of a resounding 6-2 victory.
In Senior 1 Priorians put in a resilient performance before ultimately coming out on the wrong end of a 3-2 defeat against Mossley. The result moves them ahead of Randalstown into fourth, despite having played two games less.
By Andrew Morrison
