Women’s Axios Euro Cup 2014

This year’s edition of the Women’s Axios Euro Cup was a breakthrough success. It was headlined by a hard-fought final game between the England Vixens and Ireland Banshees, who stayed undefeated throughout the tournaments five matches shutting out both the Denmark Valkyries and Les Gauloises early in their campaign.

The Vixens knew they were up for a fight as they had lost by 16 points earlier in the tournament. They managed to keep the final game to a one goal spread but under the leadership of Marie Keating’s three goals, The Banshees seized their fourth Euro Cup win.

But some of the tournament’s most important highlights were not made during match play, but rather before it all even started. 2014 had the highest participation for the Women’s tournament since its conception. Newcomers to the tournament included the Denmark Valkyries, Scotland Sirens and finalist Vixens. With 5 teams participating, each team saw action at least four times. Due to low participation, in the past the Women’s tournament was limited to only one game, usually including a Crusaders team (2012 and 2013), which was disbanded and expanded into the three new participating teams.

An Italian player, Federica Robbiano joined the Sirens team, in order to top off their numbers. The same situation arose with a few Swedish athletes who played for the Valkyries. Hopefully, Robbiano and the Swedes will help the growth and development of the sport in their countries and return to next years Euro cup with full teams of their own, as did those Ex –Crusaders.

    

France Les Gauloises 0.2 (2) – England Vixens 7.8 (50)
Goals:
England: Vanessa Temple 4, Michelle Healy, Rania Ramadan
Best:
France: Camille Portal , Coline Duquet, Stephanie Durand
England: Vanessa Temple, Rania Ramadan, Polly Moane

Ireland Banshees 4.7 (31) – Denmark Valkyries 0.0 (0)
Goals:
Ireland: Rachel McGee 2, Carolann Cassidy 2, Paula Keatley
Best:
Denmark: Elizabeth Nielson, Maria Mose, Anne Sofie Friedberg
Ireland: Rachel McCann, Aimee Hazley, Paula Keatley

Scotland Sirens 7.1 (43) –  France Les Gauloises 1.0 (6)
Goals:
France: Berengere Portal
Scotland: Erin Walter 3, Kristy Gray, Hazel Stevenson
Best:
France: Camille Portal, Chloe Raso, Berenger Portal
Scotland: Eve Shao, Helen Cameron, Carolyn Baker

England Vixens 1.1 (7) – Ireland Banshees 3.5 (23)
Goals:
England: Rania Ramadan
Ireland: Marie Keating 2, Emma Kelly
Best:
England: Lisa Mchugh, Vanessa Temple, Rania Ramadan
Ireland: Marie Keating, Emma Kelly, Paula Keatley

Denmark Valkyries 0.0 (0) – Scotland Sirens 4.5 (29)
Goals:
Scotland:Erin Walter 3, Federica Robbiano
Best:
Scotland: Erin Walter, Hazel Stevenson, Carolyn Cameron
Denmark: Elizabeth Nielson, Maria Mose , Josefin Larson

France Les Gauloises 0.0 (0) – Ireland Banshees 9.11 (65)
Goals:
Ireland: Aimee Hazley 4, Marie Keating 2, Emma Kelly 2, Carolann Cassidy 2, Rachel McGee
Best:
France: Charlene Charmale, Camille Portal, Anne Pille
Ireland: Marie Keating, Emma Kelly, Paula Keatley

England Vixens 11.7 (73) – Denmark Valkyries 0.0 (0)
Goals:
England: Laura Turner 5, Rania Ramadan 2, Vanessa Temple 2, Polly Moane
Best:
England: N/A
Denmark: Anne Sophie Friedberg, Katharina Wittenberg, Stine Magnussen 

Ireland Banshees 3.5 (23) – Scotland Sirens 1.3 (9)
Goals:
Ireland: Emma Kelly, Paula Keatley, Aimee Hazley
Scotland: Eve Shao
Best:
Ireland: Emma Kelly, Marie Keating, Fiona Roarty
Scotland: Helen Cameron, Kristy Gray, Eileen Myles

France Les Gauloises 1.0 (6) – Denmark Valkyries 1.2 (8)
Goals:
France: Berengere Portal
Denmark: N/A
Best:
France: Charlene Charnal, Berengere Portal, Camille Portal
Denmark: Anne Sophie Friedberg, Kathie Aepkers, Mettle Haurum

England Vixens 4.4 (28) – Scotland Sirens 0.2 (2)
Goals:
England: Rania Ramadan  4
Best:
England: Rania Ramadan, Chalotte Ellen Eales, Vanessa Temple
Scotland: N/A

Grand Final

England Vixens 4.2 (26) – Ireland Banshees 5.1 (31)
Goals:
Ireland: Marie Keating 3, Rachel McGee 2
England: N/A
Best:
Ireland: Marie Keating, Rachel McGee, Aimee Hazley
England: N/A