England secured a spot in the 2023 ELF Women’s U21 Lacrosse Championship semi-finals with a huge 24-1 win over Italy in the quarter-final at the Pražačka Sports and Recreation Centre yesterday.

As has been the case in their previous games, England started on the front foot and found themselves 5-0 up after just nine and a half minutes through top goal-scorer Sofia Wise, Emma Pearce, and a hat-trick from Annie Mather.

Despite their commanding lead, England continued to push for goals and finished the quarter strongly, scoring three more goals before quarter-time as Millie Cant and Molly Light got themselves on the scoresheet as well as a second of the game for Wise.

The second quarter played out in much the same way as the first with England dominating possession and working themselves into several good positions.

Captain Ana Green scored her first ever competitive goal for England after she won a foul and converted from the subsequent free position much to the delight of the England fans in the stadium and Green’s team mates; this was followed up with goals from Pearce, Lara Renders, Honor Ashby, and two for Lucy Evans before half-time.

England came out after half-time and scored two more quick-fire goals through Ailsa Scott and Cant but as they began to tire slightly in the third, Italy were able to carve out a couple of good periods of possession that eventually led to their one and only goal as Casey Gilbert weaved through the England defence and scored with a brilliant finish.

That seemed to kick England into action once again and they finished the third quarter with another three goals as Charlie Bell got her name on the scoresheet before Wise and Light grabbed their third and second goals of the game respectively.

As the game began to wind down to a close in the final quarter, England continued to be ruthless in front of Italy’s goal and ended the game with another five goals as Mather and Wise each scored their fourth, Renders grabbed her second, Cant hit her hat-trick, and Carys Johnson scored her first.

England will now play Sweden in the semi-final at 6pm BST tonight (Friday 7 July).

You can watch the quarter-final game in full HERE.

England points scorers | Mather (4G, 2A), Wise (4G), Cant (3G, 2A), Evans (2G, 2A), Renders (2G, 2A), Light (2G, 1A), Pearce (2G), Bell (1G, 2A), Johnson (1G, 2A), Ashby (1G), Green (1G), Scott (1G), Ball (4A)

Italy points scorers | Gilbert (1G)