California Daily Diary: Second win for England Women

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Throughout the England Senior Women’s California Tour, members of the squad will be giving regular updates from inside the camp to supporters back home.

Today’s team diary comes from Tilly Shires, Liv Wimpenny & Laura Merrifield

San Francisco bound we played bag jenga, piling onto the bus to face an eight hour journey. Many activities kept us entertained for the duration with the coaches playing a record number of card games and after arriving at our next destination, we had a team talk which got us fired up to get back on the pitch. 

GAMEDAY #2 vs UC Davis - W - 12-8

Three minibuses full, we set off to UC Davis. This was to be an exciting game as it would incorporate a half of NCAA rules and another half of FIL rules.

The first quarter set the tone for the rest of the game; fast paced and competitive. With both teams even on draw controls and England having multiple goal scorers - Laura Merrifield, Alex Drewe and Olivia Hompe, UC Davis went into the second quarter a goal up. 

The defence put in a solid performance throughout the whole game with clean sheets in both the second and fourth quarter, allowing our attack to convert multiple goals from seven different goal scorers. 

England came out firing in the third quarter pumped to play this half with the FIL rules we know and love. This was led by Sam Cock’s ground balls and caused turnovers, as well as, Claire Faram’s work rate in the midfield. 

England’s determination shone through to the end of the game with a 12-8 victory.

Ice bath recovery was essential to prepare our bodies for a tough schedule ahead. A well deserved tailgate was provided by UC Davis after a thrilling game by both teams. We can’t thank UC Davis enough for the delicious gumbo and incredible spread of food to keep us fuelled. 

On Wednesday, England have training in the morning at Stanford followed by an afternoon off. Be sure to tune in for our match report on Thursday where we take on Cal Berkeley! 

England Points: Olivia Hompe (2,2), Alex Drewe (3,0), Jenny Simpson (2,1), Torz Anderson (2,0), Claire Faram (1,0), Laura Merrifield (1,0), Liv Wimpenny (1,0), Camilla Hayes (0,1)