Lydia Lutwyche scored 4 goals for the Wild Women and was named Widnes MVP (Photo by Paul Breeze)
Sunday
15th March 2026 – WNIHL Division 1 North: Widnes Wild Women 8 – Solway Sharks Ladies 7
The Widnes Wild Women put in a tremendous, battling
performance in their latest WNIHL Division 1 North game, narrowly beating
Solway Sharks Ladies 8-7 at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
The game saw a senior WNIHL debut for Eva Gibson,
who played for the Deeside Under 16 girls team last year and it was a good game
for her to start with.
The same two teams had met seven days earlier in a
game that Solway had edged 3-5 so this repeat fixture was always likely to be
another close one and Widnes put in their best showing of the season so far in
a fast–paced action-packed game that was a superb advert for women’s ice
hockey.
Solway took the lead on 6 minutes but Widnes equalised
with a goal from Maggie Whitmore just 80 seconds later. 30 seconds after that, Widnes were in front
with a superb strike from Leen de Decker and then went further ahead with a
goal from Tayla Huxley–Richards on 9 minutes.
The Sharks hit back again to narrow the deficit but
Widnes deadline day signing Lydia Lutwyche restored the 2-goal cushion on 11
minutes – equalling the highest score that the Wild Women had managed in a game
all season so far.
Solway scored again with 3 minutes left on the
clock and the score stood at an incredible 4-3 at the first break.
The second period continued in similar vein with
end to end action and quite a lot of physicality for a “non-checking” women’s
game.
Widnes scored again to extend their lead with a goal from Lutwyche on 32 minutes and Lise Gillen put the Wild Women 6-3 ahead 2 minutes later. Solway pulled a goal back on 35 minutes and the score stood at 6-4 at the second interval.
The Sharks were quickest out of the blocks in the third
period and two quick goals for Cassie MacGregor – who had scored all 7 in Solway’s
7-4 win over Widnes in Dumfries back at the end of January – saw the visitors draw
level within 30 seconds of the puck drop.
But Widnes heads did not drop and the Wild Women kept
battling on. They were rewarded with a rare short-handed goal from Lutwyche on 44
minutes but the lead didn’t last long as Solway equalised again 4 minutes later.
The last ten minutes were incredibly tense as both teams
pushed hard to try for a winning goal. Each
team called a time out to discuss tactics and the atmosphere was absolutely electric
around the rink.
The breakthrough came on 56 minutes when Lydia Lutwyche
scored her 4th goal of the night, which turned out to be the winning goal. Solway put the Widnes net under intense pressure
in the closing minutes but the Wild defence held out to make sure of a well-earned
8-7 victory.
The context of this achievement really needs
underlining. Not only was this the Wild Women’s second win of a very
challenging season, it was the first time that they have won two games in the
same season at the higher WPL/Div1 level since 2016/17 – and their highest goal
tally in a WPL level game since they won 2-9 away at Slough in April 2017.
The MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards for Wild Women home games are once again this season being sponsored by niche publishers Ice Hockey Review and, as well as the usual trophies, the winners also receive special edition pens handcrafted and donated by Anthony Stock.
The awards were presented by the goal judge Lynda Bird and went to
Emily Duffy for Solway and Lydia Lutwyche for Widnes.
The Wild Women are away to Nottingham Vipers this
Sunday 22nd March at the National Ice Centre in the Lace City in a
7.30pm face off game and they are next at home on Sunday 12th April
when they take on Sheffield Shadows at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.25pm face off.
