Westerhope Pumas u13 Girls

Our pre-season is well underway, with a friendly this morning against Wideopen Pumas ending in a 5-2 win.

The result provides a strong confidence boost ahead of the new season, with plenty of attacking positives to take forward, while also highlighting a few defensive areas still to tighten up before competitive action begins.

Our goal scorers
Lacey ⚽️
Ava ⚽️
Lilly P ⚽️
Jess ⚽️
Lucy ⚽️

Opposition PoM
Mila 🏆

Coaches PoM
Lacey 🏆

Well done girls 👏

Yesterday we all enjoyed our end of season club presentation. Our girls, coaches, family and friends all gathered to celebrate a fantastic season and to watch our girls win very well deserved awards.

Round of applause for our winners 👏

🏆 Top Goal Scorer – Amber
26 goals... you'd think that says it all, wouldn't you? Well, not really!
Amber is so much more than just goals. She's always had football talent, but a serious ankle injury set her back somewhat. Supported by all the work she's put into her boxing this season, she's came back fitter than ever and determined to get back to her best.
Often playing with her back to goal, her strength allows her to hold the ball up and wait for support, linking brilliantly with her wingers and midfield teammates to keep attacks alive. Her close control and quick feet help her escape defenders, where her power and accuracy in front of goal really come to the fore.
Her brilliant corners got the Pumas off to a flyer this season. All these qualities give her the versatility to fill in at centre midfield or centre back whenever the team needs her.
A fantastic character who has the respect of both her teammates and coaches. A very well-deserved award.

🏆 Coach's Player of the Season – Ava
She was genuinely surprised to receive this accolade. The rest of us, who watch her week in and week out, certainly weren't.
She arrived at the Pumas as a rough diamond, but we knew from that very first session that Ava was a baller, and that opinion hasn't changed one bit. We still don't think she quite sees herself the way the rest of us do though, so hopefully she takes this as the validation it is and backs herself even more going forward.
Having previously played out wide, she's found her ideal position as an absolute powerhouse in the middle of the park. She is so difficult to dispossess that her hold-up play allows teammates to regroup or get forward to support her.
She's created countless chances for herself with powerful bursts from deep and has deservedly been rewarded with five goals this season.
Those throw-ins are an absolute weapon, and we'll definitely be looking at making even more of them next season!
Her endless "gentle but noticeable" (luv that 😂) encouragement to her teammates and her drive to succeed have helped push the Pumas to glory this year. Whether she's leading or helping with the pre-match warm-up, her polite manner coupled with her witty sarcasm make her a hugely valuable member of the team.
A thoroughly deserved coach's pick.

🏆 Most Improved Player – Laila
Another of our players with a background in dance and the arts, it's fair to say Laila has come a hell of a long way since she first kicked a ball with the Pumas.
She's an absolute joy to coach. She always wants to improve, learn new skills and understand better ways of playing. She asks loads of questions, seeks clarity, and then gives it her very best shot. As coaches, we can't ask for much more than that.
Playing at right back, she's come up against some quick and tricky wingers. With every game she's learned, asked questions and adapted, understanding when to commit and when to hold her position.
The second half of the season has seen her confidence grow massively, and she now looks to play intelligent passes out from the back rather than simply clearing her lines.
She's got a natural affinity for organising people, and with the move to a back four next season, Chris and I think she has all the attributes to become an excellent centre back. We're really looking forward to helping her develop that side of her game.

🏆 Most Improved Player – Lucy
Coach's kid alarm and all that 🚨😂. Fair enough, we understand the conflict!
But taking the parent's hat off for a moment and looking purely through the eyes of a coach, Lucy has progressed enormously this year.
She's one of the more experienced girls now in terms of time with the team, but like a few of the squad, it's fair to say that last season knocked her confidence. She questioned her own ability and felt that everyone else was better than her. Having a dad as coach probably added to that pressure too.
Thankfully, a few wise words from Mam helped lift some of that burden.
The validation of receiving an opposition Player of the Match award really seemed to spark something, and the second half of the season saw her back doing what she does best — battling for possession and being that irritating little buzzy bee that opponents hate playing against.
On top of that, she's added quality corners and crosses to her game, linked up brilliantly with Amber, and contributed five important goals of her own, as well as numerous assists.

🏆 Players' Player of the Season – Mila
Wow! What an impact for her debut season.
Mila joined us from another, higher-placed club with, let's just say, different expectations and pressures, and it's fair to say it took a few weeks for her to settle into her new environment.
We're so glad she stuck with it because, once the season got going, her football did all the talking.
She quickly became the cornerstone of our defence and a huge reason behind the clean sheets and the very small number of goals we conceded.
But there was so much more to her game than defending.
A fabulous hat-trick of high-quality goals against Killy Yellows, along with another six goals from centre back over the season, is an incredible return.
Some might say her football ability earned her the votes from the girls, and we're sure that played a part. But we'd like to think it's also because she's simply a lovely lass — humble, funny, respectful and someone who genuinely cares about her teammates.
At the end of the day, she just wanted to enjoy her football and play with freedom, and it feels like she's found a home where she can do exactly that while continuing to grow.
Well done, Mila!

🏆 Player of the Season – Maliha
Like summer follows spring, sure enough this girl wins Player of the Season once again. Three years or more running now, is it?
Voted for by opposition coaches and teams, there surely isn't much better validation than that.
She's an absolute nightmare to play against, and we mean that in the nicest possible way!
A true box-to-box midfielder, she has endless energy and always seems to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. After all these seasons, it can't just be coincidence.
But it's not just all effort and energy. She's scored goals, prevented goals, created assists and regularly starts attacks for the Pumas. She has lovely close control, some great little tricks in tight spaces and works tirelessly to break up opposition play.
As team captain, she supports every one of her teammates and carries herself with total respect towards everyone around her.
Always smiling, she simply loves her football and just wants to play.
If only her dad had a better watch, the Pumas might just have the perfect player in their midst!

🏆 Parents' Player of the Season – Gracie
Goalkeeper is probably the hardest position in football.
You have eight teammates in front of you whose job is to stop the opposition getting anywhere near your goal. But when they do score, the one thing everyone remembers is that you didn't save it, rather than all the moments beforehand when it could have been prevented. How annoying! On the other hand, when your team dominates possession and spends most of the game attacking, it can be a lonely place standing at the back with very little to do.
Like many of the players, Gracie took last season's defeats and disappointments particularly hard. Comparing that with this year's success, where at times she's been involved less than she'd have liked simply because the team has played so well going forward, that's a big adjustment for anyone to make.
But she stuck with it, and deserves huge credit for that.
Arguably her best individual performance came in our final game of the season. A brilliant penalty save, a great push around the post, and then the assist for Lily's opening goal with one huge kick upfield capped off a fantastic display. It was rightly recognised and celebrated by her teammates, parents and coaches after the final whistle, and it gave her a massive boost in confidence to take forward into next season.
A thoroughly deserved award, voted for by the parents.
Well done, Gracie!

For those that didn't win an award, their contributions to this seasons results and championship win did not go unnoticed by their coaches, their team mates or parents and they are very much appreciated for all they do. If they keep on working hard, progressing and fighting as a team, then more rewards will come their way and to the Pumas. Huge round of applause to you all 👏

And that is a wrap for our fantastic 2025-2026 season 😊🥇⚽️✨️

Our brilliant group of girls & coaches with their medals 🥇🏆

Today the girls, coaches, family and friends attended the league presentation to be given their very well deserved award for winning the league 🏆🥳🎉

This was followed by a lovely trip to a local Ice cream parlour close by 🍦

Another huge congratulations to all involved in the pumas success this season, especially our fantastic group of girls 👏✨️

Some snaps of the girls in action yesterday ⚽️🏃‍♀️🧤🥅🏆

LEAGUE WINNERS!!! 🍾🏆🥳

Wow what an intense game against Whitley Bay! A game that would make the difference in us being solo league winners or joint but the girls put in such a shift and came out on top, resulting in a 2-0 win making us champions 👏

Lily ⚽️
Maliha ⚽️

Opposition PoM goes to Gracie(what a penalty save 👏) 🏆
Coaches PoM goes to Laila 🏆

The girls have worked so hard all season and we are all super proud of them 🥰
Huge well done to the coaches too 👏🍾

Westerhope United Football Club

Wow what an absolutely intense game this morning against North Shields resulting in a 3-2 win!

The coaches decided to start cautious using a back 4 for the first time this season, starting on the front foot pressing high which ultimately was our undoing.
North Shields on the counter attack broke through the back line and opened the scoring.

We hit back not long after to equalise, it was an end to end game with the pumas striking again just before half time.

The second half we missed a couple of chances to extend our lead just before North Shields scored an equaliser. 8 minutes before the end, North Shields handled the ball in the penalty giving Amber the chance to step up and slot home the penalty for our 3rd goal giving her a Hat-trick!

That's where the scoring stopped in an end to end contest, both teams played well. Both teams needed the points but ultimately Westerhope walked away with them in a thrilling (not for the coaches, that was more nervewracking) game that ended 3-2 and has more or less sealed the title for the pumas.

Amber ⚽️⚽️⚽️

Opposition PoM goes to Amber 🏆
Coaches PoM goes to Julia 🏆

Today the girls battled against Killingworth Yellows resulting in a 2-2 draw in what was a very tense game.

The girls were unlucky today and didn't take all chances but we go again next weekend. 2 huge games left of a great season, come on girls bring on a strong finish🤞

Lucy ⚽️
Amber ⚽️

Player of the match goes to Lucy 🏆 Well deserved 👏