Although Charlie Bartlett’s side dominated play, the home team’s defence worked to recover from a momemtary slip early on, which left a speedy Lancaster attacker goalside. It was down to Beanie Usher, York’s formidable goalkeeper, to prevent the shot on goal, which she executed with ease. Balls from Imy Storm to Bartlett opened up space on the wing allowed York to be constantly on the attack, but Lancaster’s defence proved tough to crack, and it was still 0-0 after 25 minutes.
It was Frankie Hall who finally got the ball into the back of the net, with the only goal of the first half, as she smashed the ball into the bottom corner resulting in raucous celebrations from York’s eager crowd of supporters.
Play started to really hot up after half time. Wth a low, lifted ball of the Lancaster sticks defending the goal line – a technique difficult to conduct considering the speed she was travelling at – Hannah Gage grabbed an early goal in the second half, making the score 2-0 to York.
In response, Lancaster upped their game and made a formidable break; Sally Warrington was forced to perform an emergency tackle in the D but gave away a short corner. From this, the opposition scored, and Lancaster looked as if they could steal the game from York with the score reading 2-1.
However, York didn’t loose face, and just after a Lancaster mid was issued a green card (aptly nicknamed ‘Nattitude’ on the back of her shirt), Emily Lucas performed a flawless dribble around three defenders to score York’s third and final goal of the match. There were notable shots on goal in the closing stages from Gage, while Faustino hit the post with a flamboyant reverse stick flick shot on goal. However, the final whistle blew and the UYHC women enjoyed their second victory of the day with a 3-1 score. York captain Charlie Bartlett exclaimed that she was “So happy! This is such a fantastic way to end the season. This is our first win in five years and today every single goal was outstanding. I’m so proud of everyone”. The victory added four more points to the York Roses tally.