The Widnes Wild Women had a highly eventful season playing at the higher Division 1 level for the first time since 2021/22, having been promoted after winning the Division 2 North title last year.
A number of new faces
joined the Wild Women during the summer either as regular signings or on 2 way
arrangements with other clubs – and many made their debuts at Division 1 North
(previously known as Women’s Premier League) level.
The season was pretty hard
going – as it had been expected to be - with a 20-match schedule playing 5
other teams twice home and twice away.
It wasn’t really a level playing field either as some of the opposing
teams had current or former GB players on their rosters and also a number of
players who regularly played up at Elite League level.
It took a while for the
new-look Wild squad to gel and this was reflected in their early season
results.
The campaign started off
with a 2-16 defeat at home to Sheffield Shadows and a similar pattern of lucky
battling performances followed where the Wild Women did well but were often
beaten by a significant margin.
They lost all four games
against eventual league champions Kingston Diamonds without scoring a single
goal but eventually managed two wins – 3-1 over Nottingham Vipers and 8-7
against Solway Sharks - to finish the season on 4 points.
Two wins from 20 games may
not sound like much but the win over Nottingham in January was the first time
that the Wild Women had picked up a victory at WPL level since December 2017
and their final tally of two wins was their best in the higher division since
the 2016/17 season.
Leen de Decker was the top
goalscorer for the season with 8 goals and 2 assists from 17 games. Lise Gillen joined her on 10 points, having
scored 5 goals and 5 assists and former GB player Lydia Lutwyche gave an
impressive cameo performance with 5+2 in only 4 games after joining the Wild
Women just before the signing deadline.
Tayla Huxley-Richards
impressed in her first season of senior women’s hockey with 5 goals from her 14
starts, while another breakout player, Ilyssa Flemington, also managed 2 goals
and 3 assists for 5 points.
Maggie Whitmore, Jenny
Hickey, Dee Vause, Ellen Tyrer, Emma Dutton, Karyn Cooper and Victoria Connelly
all contributed goals during the season and Nicola Wallace, Catherine Fell,
Eleanor Johnson, Abigail Aldred, Laura Bibby and Elizabeth Bird all got on the
scoresheet with assists.
As with previous seasons
playing at this higher WPL level, Stephanie Drinkwater was, again, the most
over-worked netminder in the Division.
In the 19 games that she played in, she faced an eye-watering 1334
shots, She did however, save a very impressive 1145 of them, finishing up with
a Save Percentage of 85.83.
Isabel Bateson – who
usually plays university hockey – got herself a WNIHL Division 1 debut by
filling in for the first game away to Caledonia Steel Queens and Maggie
Whitmore bravely put in a 20 minute spell between the pipes in the away game at
Nottingham after Drinkwater sustained an injury – even though she had never
played in goal before.
There was a 4-way tie at
the top of the “Bad Girl” stakes for penalty minutes with Nicola Wallace,
Catherine Fell, Victoria Connelly and Maggie Whitmore all picking up 12 minutes
over the course of the season - and 11 other players also paying a visit to the
sin bin at some point.
Looking back over the season, Wild Women General Manager Karyn Cooper said:
"We knew it was going to be a tough season but I couldn't be prouder of all the team for how they've applied themselves, and everyone has improved from the start of the season to the end."
"There have been some tough results but the way the players have responded and kept morale levels high on the bench has been really commendable. I'd also like to give thanks to anyone who's helped with volunteering to support us this year, we couldn't do it without the help they give."
While the regular WNIHL season may now be over, there is still work to be done as the Wild Women prepare to take part in the Bristol Tournament over the weekend of 21st/22nd June
This annual end of season
jamboree is a fairly unique competition as it involves teams from the different
EIHA divisions – Elite League, Divisions 1 and 2 North & South - all
playing against each other in one big qualifying group.
Particular spice will be
added to this year’s tournament as the new Blackburn Hawks women’s team are
also taking part. They have a number of former Wild Women players in their
ranks and the group stage encounter will be the first time that the two
north-west sides have met in a competitive game.
