Watsonians striker Lucy Lanigan fired two goals as Scotland opened their EuroHockey Championship II campaign with a magnificent seven-goal shutout over Ukraine.
The Rutherglen-born player was congratulated by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon after the game watched by a near-capacity crowd at Glasgow’s National Hockey Centre.
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And the 25-year-old, who is a PE teacher at The Mary Erskine School, was joined on the scoresheet by Emily Dark, Fiona Burnett, Charlotte Watson and skipper Kaz Cuthbert who also claimed a glory double in the rout.
The result gave the home side an excellent start to the tournament but they now play the highly-fancied Czech Republic on Tuesday in what could be a deciding game in the qualifiers .
Earlier, Charlotte Watson opened the scoring after good build up down the right. The ball was cut back by Cuthbert and finished off by Watson for after only three minutes.
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Lanigan then slid the ball low past the goalkeeper for 2-0 four minutes later and it was 3-0 after 20 minutes when Cuthbert smashed a rebound from a penalty corner low against the backboard.
Scotland claimed fourth four minutes later from Fiona Burnet but Ukraine then enjoyed a period of pressure.
Goalkeeper Amy Gibson was called upon to save at her top right corner to keep the Ukrainians out, but any hint of a comeback was snuffed out when Emily Dark fired home for 5-0 after 44 minutes.
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Lanigan then bagged her double after good work from Edinburgh-born Sarah Jamieson, who had earlier hit the post, after 47 minutes to make it 6-0.]
And Cuthbert raised her arms in delight when she completed the scoring by popping up at the far post to prod the ball home and make it 7-0 in the dying minutes.
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