By Joe Tunney
USW were comfortably beaten at the Sports Park by a dominant Cardiff side.
A hat-trick from Lottie Burnham, four goals from Claudia Beckett and seven from Bella Stevens ensured the visitors were always in control.
Cardiff got off to a brilliant start and opened the scoring after just two minutes with Stevens’ first, and she quickly doubled the lead in the fourth minute after powering a shot past Chloe Summers in the USW goal.
A brilliant display of attacking lacrosse followed with Cardiff adding a third and fourth by the end of the first quarter, thanks to a brace from midfielder Beckett.
Cardiff picked up where they left off in the second quarter as they quickly added to their lead.
By half-time Burnham had opened her account and there were also goals from Lucy Johnson, Olive Herries and Amelia Bridges.
Had it not been for some fine work by Summers, who produced some fantastic saves, the damage for USW would have been even worse.
Just two minutes after half-time Cardiff piled more misery on their hosts, when awarded a penalty.
It saw USW’s Rachel Mayers sin-binned and the set-piece expertly dispatched by attacker Faye Lewis.
Four minutes later there was a hat-trick for Stevens who produced an incredible individual display as she grabbed a fourth goal.
Lewis doubled her tally on the 42nd minute and this seemed to be the catalyst for USW to grow into the game for the first time, with strong efforts by Amber Maddox-Moore and Megan Williams.
Despite this the home side could not work the scoreboard and by the end of the third quarter it was 13-0 to the visitors after Beckett grabbed her third.
The final quarter began with Herries and Beckett both finding the net. Burnham became the third visiting player to find the net on three occasions with a quickfire brace in the 51st and 53rd minutes.
Despite USWs efforts to find a goal, Cardiff were always in control, with Stevens capitalising on an excellent individual display as she netted twice late on to take her total for the day to seven in the 59th minute.