We entered the u16 girls into the new England Hockey tier 2 competition this year . The format included a local league followed potentially by progression to a regional finals day when the winners of all the local area leagues will play off on 8th April to see who becomes champion. Our local league meant trips to Alton before Christmas with a 4-1win for the girls , followed by a double header at home against teams from Jersey HC and Winchester HC .An exciting 3-3 draw against Jersey was followed up with a gutsy fight back to beat Winchester 2-1 after having conceded an early goal.
This all meant that to go through to the finals the girls needed to win by 2 goals away in Southampton at Trojans Hockey Club last Sunday. The girls played extremely well limiting the opposition to 1 or 2 chances and moving to a convincing 2-0 lead at half time. The girls learnt their lesson from the Jersey match ,where we let a 2 goal lead slip away and continued to pile on the pressure finishing with a 4-0 win. The performance felt particularly good as we had 4 new players who slotted seamlessly in to cover half term absentees indicating the depth of talent we are beginning to develop. The Girls finished top and we are now waiting to see who we will face in a three way play off to establish who will finish 1st,2nd &3rd in the competition. Well done Girls!!