The weekend of the 5 and 6 April saw teams from the North descend on Leicester for the women’s Outdoor Regionals with teams looking to qualify for Nationals in April. Leeds women started their weekend with a pool game against Liverpool. The team went out fighting and point-capped them 11-0 within 35 minutes of the 50 minute game. This set the tone for the rest of the day with the women beating hosts Leicester 11-1 with some great long discs from Rachel Naden, and neighbours York 11-1. After a day of slick, impressive play the Sunday promised harder games in the crossovers and the ladies decided they wanted their own beds so set off on the two-hour journey home.
The Sunday saw the women in the semi final against Sheffield, with smooth, decisive offensive work from Steph Warner and excellent positioning from Alice Hanton, Leeds won 11-0 meaning they had made the final. The opponents for the final were either Loughborough or Newcastle who were in a tight sudden-death semi final game. Newcastle pulled through to win 6-5 and showed hints of trepidation before the final having seen the dominance of Leeds’ scorelines in the rest of the tournament.
This was going to be Leeds’ toughest match of the tournament and the team gave it their all with layouts, pitch length hucks and bids all game showing the high ability of all members of the team; which was also reflected by the post match comments from Newcastle’s captain. The teamwork, precision and skill of the team paid off and Leeds won 11-1, once again cruising through Regionals, scoring 55 points over the weekend and only conceding 3. The Leeds ladies are now excited for the challenge of Nationals in April as they work to match or better their 2nd place result at Indoor Nationals earlier in the year.