 The Under 16 Girls were undefeated in their quest to progress in the England Hockey National Championships. They faced Spencer, Sevenoaks and Richmond. Only the top of four teams would go through. Undefeated, but was lady luck on their side...
With tournament hockey, you always need some help from lady luck, unfortunately today she decided it was not meant to be.
Match 1 vs Spencer
We had an electric start, we swarmed all over Spencer and raced to a well deserved 2-0 lead at half time and nearly made it 3 nil hitting the post. But this was a game of 2 halves. In the second half either Spencer were un recognisable or we just dropped down a gear. We allowed Spencer back into the game and with a 2-nil score the momentum can swing quickly. Spencer pushed us hard and equalised with a couple of minutes to go. The game ended 2-2.
Match 2 vs Sevenoaks
This was a tight game, Sevenoaks were both technical and physical. It was 0-0 at half time. We came out in the second half strong and took the lead. With 4minutes to go Sevenoaks put on a kicking back and the pressure built. 2 minutes were left and a very unfortunate short corner was awarded against us. Our defender had a flat low stick on the ground in a defensive position and somehow was blown for a stick tackle. These things happen and we managed to defend the first short corner but another was awarded during the short corner phase. Sevenoaks scored with a minute to go. Frustrating.
Match 3 vs Richmond
This was a dead rubber starting at 6pm, the rain started which was probably just confirming it was not our day. The girls played some good hockey and came out 3-1 or 4-1 winners. I cant quite remember as it was raining quite hard.
After the Richmond match we took a team photo which showed the camaraderie of this team. Lots of smiles and a few tears that the season is over...
Sevenoaks progressed to the national finals in Nottingham, we wish them every success and luck. Our girls were left to rue the fact that we were ahead in all three matches with just minutes to go. Hockey, eh!
A big thanks to the parents who supported us all season and Adam our coach who kept them going right to the end and they all finished with a smile on their faces. You cant ask for any more.
Also a huge thank you to Genie Ross for spending her Mother's Day umpiring for us - THANK YOU!!!
Roll on Spring. Summer. And Next Season...
Anthony | 
