Ladies' 1s Win South Indoor Finals, Progress to National Play-offs

GHC Ladies' 1s are South Indoor Champions!

The Southern Counties Hockey Association Women’s Indoor tournament, which took place on Sunday 15 December at The Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth, comprised 7 teams from across the south of England: Guildford, Horsham, Marlow, Oxford Hawks, Southgate, Teddington and Wycombe.

Guildford HC were undefeated in the tournament, winning 4 matches and drawing 2. The GHC Ladies scored more goals than any other team and had the second-best defensive record on the day as well.

The Guildford Ladies 1^st XI play their outdoor hockey in the South Premier Division. The GHC Ladies’ indoor team, made up of players from the 1^st XI, adopted their attacking style of play from outdoor and adapted it to the indoor environment; this proved very advantageous. With quite a few young team members – including four who are still eligible for junior hockey – the team were well suited to the fast and frenetic pace of the matches.

Team captain Julia Blackstock lead from the front, scoring 4 of the team’s 11 goals on the day, and helped inspire the rest of the team to victory.

This brilliant result is a first for Guildford HC Ladies in recent decades and means that the team will now play in England Hockey’s National Division South 2. The next round of competition, taking place in early January, will be a series of indoor matches to progress to the next level up: England Hockey National Division 2 South.