The Under 16 Girls A team had their final pool match in the England Hockey Tier 2 Championships. A win would secure a place in the EH Area Finals...
The girls are in a pool of five divisions - one of 15 divisions from across England: Guildford, Brighton & Hove, Trojans, Horsham and Alton.
They were off to a strong start in the competition, scoring 8+ goals at B&H back in November. Next up were Trojans who were well organised and with a strong defence - scoring 2 goals wasn't enough against Trojans' 3 goals on the day.
Horsham drove through the remnants of storm Dennis in February and worked really hard against a strong Guildford team. 2-0 to Guildford at half-time became 6-0 at the final whistle with Horsham never giving up (but without subs the hill was too big for Horsham to climb).
So, 2 wins and a loss, with Alton on a win and a loss with 2 games still to play meant that a win would put Guildford through to Area Finals in 2nd place in the table.
On a rare sunny morning in March, the girls didn't disappoint. Their efforts in training to improve their skills along with their solid team ethic made for 5 goals against a good team with an excellent keeper.
The Area Finals take place on 5th April where the girls will meet other Divisional winners from a broader geography.

David Cudberston from Alton kindly shared his photos of the match - here are a few and do visit his website to look at the whole selection and purchase high resolution versions:
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