On Tuesday, our U13A Hockey squad set off to Hurstpierpoint for their Regional round of the National IAPS competition.
With just 1 game under their belt this term against a strong Cranleigh side, our U13’s went into the 21-team tournament determined to hit the ground running.
Just 15 seconds into their first game, that was exactly what they did as G Butler sent Danes Hill on their way to a 3-0 win over Culford with further goals coming from D Walsh and L Kelly.
After re-grouping, Danes Hill put together another dominant display to beat Hawthorns 2-0 with D Walsh and L Kelly again the scorers.
After dominating their opening two group games, Danes Hill faced Cranleigh in a tie that would ultimately decide the group. The girls fought hard throughout and took a deserved lead after some great team pressing allowed D Walsh to steal the ball off the last defender before calmly finishing past the keeper. The girls continued to defend valiantly but two goals either side of half-time swung the tie in Cranleigh’s favour. Despite a great fight-back in the second half, a late goal secured the points for Cranleigh in a tough contest.
Needing to secure a win against Fettes in their final game of the group stages, a slow start saw the game goalless at half-time. With qualification to the Cup Competition hanging in the balance, to brilliant solo goals from G Butler cancelled out a brilliant finish from Fettes to secure second in the group and a place amongst the regions’ top 8.
After a short break, the girls faced Ardingly, winners of their own group, in a Quarter-Final that would see the winners advance to the Nationals as one of the top 4.
Danes Hill created a number of opportunities in a tightly fought contest but Ardingly’s clinical finishing proved the difference between the two sides as they ran out 2-0 winners.
The girls made the school proud throughout the day, scoring some fantastic goals, defending resolutely throughout and making massive strides forward with the intensity of their play.
U13 IAPS Squad 2018:
G Butler, C Ellsbury, C Ellsbury, L Gartside, L Kelly, P Morison, G Morris, D Walsh
