On Saturday (30th March 2019) our Ladies 1st team travelled to Edinburgh to play their final match of the season against 3rd placed Inverleith. Our rivals for the league championship, Erskine Stewarts Melville Ladies, had an easier fixture at home but our girls had a 3 point advantage over them as ESM had lost to Inverleith on Thursday. Assuming that ESM would win (which they did) if our girls could get a point from their Inverleith match they would become NL2 Champions for the first time.

Inverleith were 1-0 up at half-time so our Ladies started the second half needing to score a goal and keep their goal intact. That’s exactly what they did thanks to team captain Holly Steiger scoring a league winning equaliser from open play, and the defence keeping Inverleith out. In fact, goalkeeper Siobhan Cowie and her defence have played a huge part in the success of this season by achieving no fewer than 11 shut-outs from their 18 league matches, and conceding only nine goals in the other seven matches. But of course it is a team game so all the goalscorers, midfielders, defenders, and their coach Adam Walker, have contributed to these results:

Played 18: Won 12 - Drew 4 - Lost 2 = 40 Points
Goals for 42 Goals against 9

Merlins Gordonians have played in NL2 for many years after first winning NL3 in 2007 (and again in 2010 and 2013). Now that they have won NL2 they will represent our club in the top flight of Scottish ladies hockey - the first North District team to do that for 17 years (thanks Aimee).

Some of the top teams in the country packed with international players had never played at Countesswells but they did in 2019/20 and hopefully will again next season.

Photo: Celebrating after the match at Inverleith, Edinburgh on 30.03.19
Video: Siobhan Cowie, a key member of the league winning side, makes a save v Western Wildcats Ladies in our Ladies' first ever NL1 match at Countesswells