Tuesday, 16 May 2023

De Decker Leading Points Scorer Heading Into Play Offs.

Wild Women captain Leen de Decker (#5) in action against Grimbsy Wolves (Photo by Annie Bennison)

DMUK Widnes Wild women captain Leen de Decker finished up as the team’s top points scorer for the regular season with 24 goals and 11 assists. The Belgium national team record holder for international appearances, she was one of four ever present players to have played in all 14 league games, along with Rachael Pearce, Charlotte Cramp and Jennifer Hickey.

De Decker was pushed all the way in the scoring standings by former GB Under18 international Katie Fairclough, who finished just 3 points behind with 20 goals and 12 assists from 13 games – including 2 hat tricks and an impressive 5-goal haul in the home game against Kingston Diamonds.

Last season’s top scorer Preston Gennoe weighed in with 13 goals and 10 assists while Pearce, Cramp, Danielle Skilander and Lucy Kirkham also made double figures.

De Decker is one of the longest serving players on the Wild women’s team, having been part of the group that moved to Widnes from Altrincham in 2015 to set up the new club.

Stephanie Drinkwater, Lucy Kirkham, Vanessa Crickmore-Clarke, Elizabeth Loss and Catherine Fell are the other founder member of the Wild women still to be playing with the club and, with a combined total of over 450 appearances between them, the team will be relying heavily on their experience when it comes to the play offs over the Bank Holiday weekend.