The past week has seen the both the under 14 and under 16 girls’ hockey teams emulate last season’s achievements in reaching the National Finals in the three tournaments available to them.
Firstly the under 16s went to Southgate last week to play their South semi-final against Ardingly and ran out comfortable 5-0 winners. This lead to a rather surprising final against Eastbourne that was littered with injuries, but Cranleigh’s greater depth in their squad ensured a 1-0 victory that could have been more as the Eastbourne goalies both played really well.
On Sunday they then moved indoors and cruised through their pool games and into the semi-final which they dominated to reach the final and thus earn qualification to the Nationals, as both finalists go forward. With the objective achieved, a rather interesting interpretation of certain rules made a bit of a mockery of the final against JAGS that will no doubt be rectified if we have to play them in the Nationals themselves.
To round off a great week, the under 14s comfortably disposed of Stowe in their South semi-final at Surbiton to earn a rematch with old rivals St George’s in the final. The Surrey final between the two sides had ended up goalless and St Georges won on penalty flicks. Not to be outdone this time, and with a new structure created by Mr Batchelor, the girls tore into the opposition and completely dominated the match. Halfway through the first half St Georges got into our circle for the first time… and scored! Back came the girls and they scored two goals in quick succession to take the lead. Another goal in the second half sealed the match and a trip to Cannock in February.
RJO