Monday 14 October 2024

Match Report: Sheffield Shadows 1 – Widnes Wild Women 2 (WNIHL Div2N)

Stephanie Drinkwater was the
Wild Women's MVP at Sheffield
(Photo by Wild Women IHC) 
Saturday 12th October 2024 – WNIHL Div2N: Sheffield Shadows 1 – Widnes Wild Women 2

The Widnes Wild women’s team continued their unbeaten start to the new season with a 1-2 win away to Sheffield Shadows on Saturday.

As the score suggests, this was a very close game and the result could have gone either way until the very last seconds. 

Sheffield took the lead in the 5th minute but Widnes drew level on 10 minutes with a goal from former Belgium international player Leen de Decker. The Wild Women went ahead on 15 minutes with another de Decker strike, this time a powerplay goal punishing a Sheffield stick-holding penalty.

The score remained 1-2 at the first period break and, despite numerous chances for both sides, it also ended up as the final score.

Sheffield upped the pressure as the game progressed, looking for an equaliser forcing Widnes into taking a few defensive penalties as they battled to keep them at bay. Wild netminder Stephanie Drinkwater put in a superb performance in front of goal keeping out 32 of the 33 shots that she faced - and was named MVP for the Wild women.

The Wild Women have another away fixture - at Whitley Bay on 27th October - before their first home game of the season against Whitley Bay Beacons on Sunday 24th November at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.25pm face off.

*****

Leen de Decker
(Photo by Paul Breeze)
Leen De Decker is one of the original Wild Women players who moved to Widnes when the club was relocated from Altrincham in the wake of the Manchester Phoenix fiasco back in 2015, and had previously played 8 seasons for Kingston Diamonds before arriving at Widnes via Altrincham. 

She was, until recently, the most capped player for her native Belgium with 52 World Championship games under her belt, along with 3 WC bronze medals and 1 silver medal.

Leen has played in 7 of the Wild Women’s 8 seasons – having been behind the scenes in a coaching capacity last season – and in that time, scored 86 goals and 34 assists in 72 competitive matches.  She was an important member of the Wild women’s team that won the Division 1 North league title in the 2019/20 season and was team captain for the 2022/23 season when they were league runners up.