On Monday 9 December the Danes Hill 1st hockey team travelled to local school, St John’s, to play in the In2 Surrey Hockey Tournament. After the success of the Year 7 and 8 hockey teams in the IAPS competitions, the girls heads were high and they were looking forward to playing as a combined team. Taking part in this tournament were some of the best hockey schools in the country! With only 8 minutes in each half, the team knew that they needed to be on top hockey form.
It was a cold and windy day to play hockey but the girls kept their spirits high and demonstrated their hockey strengths as the tournament progressed.
The girls had a tough start, playing Lingfield College. Despite an early goal, Lingfield came back to draw 1-1. Danes Hill then started to pick up their game and went on to win against Cranleigh, CLFS, St John’s and to finish the pool stage with a superb 6-0 win against Prior’s Field. This meant that they qualified as top of their pool and went through to the Semi-final match against Downsend.
The girls hugely stepped up their game and dominated the match. Every player worked together as a team and were able to break through their defence to score an outstanding 4 goals. The girls were thrilled to be through to the final and knew they had a place in the regional competition.
The final was against St George’s and this was an extremely exciting game to watch. Both teams demonstrating their strengths in every position. In the first half, Danes Hill scored 2 goals to put them up into a comfortable position going into the second half. However, St George’s came back with 2 goals to level the score 2-2. At the final whistle with the score being a draw, penalty flicks were to be played to decide the winner.
After the 3 penalty flicks, the score was level with one goal each. F.Marais was truly unstoppable as goal keeper! In the fourth penalty flick, E.Pitts stepped up to score and St George’s went wide with their flick which resulted in Danes Hill winning the match and the Surrey competition.
Danes Hill girls were awarded their gold medals and crowned U13 In2 Surrey Hockey Champions. They look forward to the Regional South of England round of the competition next term. A huge congratulations to all of the girls!
F.Marais
I.Davies
C.Lees
M.Guevara-Correa
M. Fewings
L.Ingles
C.Moorhead
E.Pitts
J.Thompson
C.Moore
