Sunderland Ladies striker Beth Mead has been named the PFA Women's Young Player of the Year. 

Great start 

It has been a great first season in the WSL 1 for the 20-year-old, in which she scored 12 goals in 14 games to earned her this accolade, voted for by her fellow professionals. 

This award adds to an increasingly impressive CV from the England under-23 international, winning the Vauxhall England Young Player of the Year and WSL 1 Player's Player of Year during the previous campaign and Mead said she was delighted with her latest victory. 

She told The Chronicle that she was "excited" and that she thought she had a "good season" but would "never have expected" to win an "award like this"

She continued saying that it was a "huge honour" to be "recognised by [her] peers" and that the award "meant a lot" to her and. Mead admitted it capped off a "really great year" and couldn't have been achieved without the club who have "supported and believed" in her.

Above: Sunderland AFC ladies striker Beth Mead is looking to improve in the new season after winning PFA women's young player of the year | Photo: The Chronicle
Mead is looking to improve even further in the new season after winning award. | Photo: The Chronicle

Stepping up 

Praise didn't stop there as Mead was also named the Team of the Year and just missed out on the player of the year accolade, which went to Manchester City's Izzy Christiansen. But with the new season only two games old, the striker is looking to improve even further. 

She said that the side have been together for a "lot of years" and have a "great understanding" of each other and of herself which she thinks is a great help. 

Mead continued saying that the side are looking to do "even better". She wants to score "more goals", create "more chances" and improve her "overall game".

Sunderland Ladies will host league leaders Manchester City Women at The Hetton Centre on Friday, April 29, with kick-off at 7:45pm BST. 

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.