South Shields Women is delighted to welcome Ponteland United Women forward Sophie Curle to the club.
The NERWFL Northern Division’s top goalscorer has joined the Mariners as the team looks to build upon its solid start to the season and gain promotion into the fourth tier for the first time.
Her impressive numbers have captured the eyes of head coach Matt Gatiss and his coaching staff who have moved swiftly to bring her over to 1st Cloud Arena.
Curle has bagged 31 goals in just 13 appearances for Ponteland and 26 of those have come in only 11 league matches.
She hit similar levels at Darlington in 2021-22 when she netted 35 league goals in 14 matches, and last season playing with Newcastle United’s development squad with 11 goals in 11 games.
Head coach Matt Gatiss said: “Sophie’s one we’ve been aware of for years… wherever she’s been, she’s scored goals whether that’s at Darlington initially, whether it’s Middlesborough, Thornaby, Newcastle Devs, to Ponteland, she’s been class and you can see that.
“She’s got the drive, she’s got the right attitude and she’s exactly what we need as an out-and-out goalscorer and a big thanks to Ponteland for smoothing it over and helping us out with it, moving the transfer through.
“She’ll add quality and that’s what we’re all about - we’re not looking to bring players in just to fill numbers, it’s about bringing players in who are going to add quality.”
Curle could make her debut for the lasses this Sunday when Shields take on Redcar Town Ladies at Ford Hub - more details are on the club’s website.