LFC Women show their quality and crush West Ham in pre-season

Liverpool FC Women enjoyed an impressive 5-0 win over West Ham United Women on Sunday afternoon at Loughborough University in the build-up to the Barclays Women's Super League 2022-23, with goals from Katie Stengel, Shanice van de Sanden and a second-half hat-trick from Leanne Kiernan.

Stengel opened the scoring in the friendly after 16 minutes in Leicestershire, tapping home Melissa Lawley's cross at the back post. The Hammers barely enjoyed any possession in the final third of Liverpool's half and the Reds doubled their lead nine minutes after the turnaround.

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Second time

Then Lawley again crossed into the box from the outside, but this time it was Van de Sanden who was on hand at the far post to head into an empty net. Matt Beard's charges were awarded a penalty after Kiernan came off the bench, and she added a third after her initial spot-kick was saved by goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.

The Irish striker got her second goal of the match just four minutes later, capitalising on a well-executed cut-back by Ceri Holland from the byline. Kiernan rounded off her hat-trick in style, completing a run of three goals in eight minutes, thanks to some clever work from Emma Koivisto, who finished low from the right flank to round off the game.