U14 Girls Dev7s Vs EH T3 championships

SHNC's U14 girls team put in a fine performance at St Ives in a 4-way tournament as part of the England Hockey T3 Girls U4 championships.

With three back-to-back 30 minute games, and a format of 7-aside team on half pitches, their first outing was against a strong Cambridge City - battling against county team-mates and coach. Despite Saints losing 3-0, the match was a lot more even than the score suggests with our girls being beaten by the occasional weak ball through the centre being taken advantage of by the opposition. However, overall coaches and parents felt the game was one of the best performances they had seen from the Saints girls, with the ball moving around the pitch well and great team-play from the squad of 10 working together.

The U14s then went onto to beat the unknown Felixstowe 4-1, with goals from Sophie, Tash, Fi and Ruby and several near misses from Ruby, including a little aerial display. A strong defensive performance from Katie, Charlotte, Georgie and Katy, gave keeper Tara confidence to strongly kick the ball clear the few times it eventually got through.

The final game of the afternoon was against local opposition St Ives, fielding a few older girls including schoolmates. The pace had slowed considerably from the first game as the girls were tiring, with Ruby and Fi going wide a few times. Georgie took a nasty tumble and finally went off injured with a few scrapes and bruised elbow, but then Ruby and Fi popped a goal each past the St Ives keeper to ensure a 2-0 win.

Tash was the team’s player of the afternoon, who controlled the Saints play at centre mid with confidence and skill, working hard and supporting her defenders at every opportunity. Special mention to Georgie, who earned PoM versus Cambridge City, and Ruby for some fine skills. Very well done to the entire squad of Katie, Sophie, Fi, Tara, Tash, Georgie, Nellie, Katy, Charlotte and Ruby - and a great mix of local schools represented in the one team - Hinchingbrooke, Kimbolton, Longsands and Swavesey.