A hard battle was fought by Merlins 1st XI on the beach which is St Andrews University hockey pitch. With having to adapt our tactics due to the ball moving slowly along the sand, we found ourselves struggling to put the ball in the back of the goal despite winning numerous short corners. After a few attempts, however, Aimee Clark opened for Merlins by dribbling around the St Andrews defensive short corner team and confidently pushing the ball past the goalkeeper. With only a couple of shots toward goal from St Andrews, they were thirsty to get one back and crowded our defensive D, making it difficult to clear the ball, unfortunately, after a series of stick tackles against us, they managed to pick up a rebound and equalize. We quickly responded by playing a series of accurate passes from left back up to the D, resulting in a goal from Alana Willox. 2-1 to Merlins at halftime. An unfortunate blood injury from Aisling Campion, centre midfielder, resulted in a shift in positioning and the team had to continue to do a lot of running. We ensured our defending was tighter and solid in the second half resulting in St Andrews not getting an equalizer, despite a few opportunities.

Final score 2-1 to Merlins.

Goalscorers - Aimee Clark and Alana Willox.

Goalkeepers player of the game - Niamh MacFarlane.