Girls’ Sport 27.10.24

This week saw us at 4 different schools on Wednesday with all the girls playing hockey matches. The 1st team were at Bede’s for a hockey packed tournament, the 2nd and 3rd teams at Holmewood against Marlborough House, the 10’s and 11’s playing in a triangular against Sutton Valence and Marlborough House and then the some of the year 5 and 6 girls in a tournament at Dulwich Prep.

1st Team Hockey:

On Wednesday, the girls 1st VII travelled to Bede’s for their second tournament of the season. After a slow start ended in a 0-0 draw against Mayfield, the girls found their stride in their second game with a 2-0 win over L.O.G.S. In their final group game, they took a 1-0 lead over the undefeated hosts, before a late goal saw Bede’s earn a 1-1 draw and top the group.

Finishing second in the group, Holmewood progressed to the Cup semi-final, where they would play the winners from group A, Handcross Park. Holmewood started quickly, scoring three early goals to take control of the game, with Saoirse and Francesca both scoring twice in a 4-0 win. This would see them through to the Cup final, where they would again face Bede’s after they had defeated Great Walstead in the other semi final. This time, Holmewood would escape some early pressure with a well-defended series of short corners leading to a breakaway goal for Saoirse against the run of play. Holmewood then capitalised on this momentum to attack the home side and apply some pressure of their own, which yielded an excellent goal for Francesca. In the final minutes. Another well-worked short corner for Bede’s got them back into contention, but the girls hung on for a well-deserved victory to take the Cup final 2-1.

Aside from the outstanding goal scorers, every one of the girls contributed to the team’s success on the day, with Rosie in particularly supreme form at the back, creating a lot of attacking chances for our forwards and snuffing out attacking chances all day. The girls will now look to build on their win and continue to improve next week. DB

1st Team Hockey Team at Bede’s Tournament

2nd Team Hockey

The girls worked hard to create chances in what was a very tight game from start to finish against the MHS 1st team. The girls now need to work on their positional play and reactions to decisions to create some more goal scoring opportunities. Saskia made some great saves in goal and was a well deserved POM voted for by the opposition. TB

3rd Team Hockey

A really encouraging team performance from the 3rd team. A real focus on the pace of passing allowed Holmewood to make a strong start with Matilda feeding our pacy wings Eva, Blanca and Isla. Several chances were created including hitting the post twice before Madeline and Blanca scored to give Holmewood a deserved 2 goal lead at half time. We took the opportunity to swap some positions around and scored three more goals, conceding one to leave the final scoreline of 5 – 1. Well done to all the team for such a good team performance. Blanca was voted player of the match for her good stick skills and goal scoring prowess. STP

U11A Hockey

The U11 girls travelled to Sutton Valence this week to play in a triangular against the hosts and Marlborough House. Playing MH in our first match, we dominated the game and showed some real strength going forward. The passing was strong, and Lavinia displayed a really high level of skill. Scoring our only goal of the day, she was the standout player for the team. Sutton Valence had some big, strong girls in their team and despite giving 2 goals away, we did play some brilliant hockey and had opportunities to score. More work on post play to get the goals in this week, and hopefully we will be able to convert more of the goals next week. SP

U11B Hockey

The U11B had a brilliant day at Sutton Valence playing in a triangular which also included Marlborough house. They played Marlborough house first and there was some great hockey. Zoe scored in the last minute, which meant a win for Holmewood with the game ending 1-0. Player of this match was Eleanor. We then went on to play Sutton valence which ended 0-0. The girls played well as a team, and I could see the girl’s using skills that they have been practising in training. Player of this match was Nilaya. EB

U11C and U10C

The Under 11 C and Under 10 C teams travelled to Dulwich Cranbrook to take part in the Coursehorn Cup. They each played 4 short games of hockey against St Ronans, Ashford Prep, Somerhill and Dulwich. Although goals eluded us apart from a great goal from Ffion against Somerhill, all the girls had a fun afternoon. Both teams worked hard and there were some fabulous passages of play with great control and dribbling the ball at speed into the D. Plenty of near misses and great chances. We worked particularly hard in defence and Well Done to Rebecca on her first outing as goalkeeper. Special mention to Anne, Jenny and Florence who played up for the U11 team. The U10 C team rotated positions and all played with real spirit and improved through the afternoon.

Well done to Player of the tournament:

U11 C Rebecca

U10 C Anne

U10 A & B Hockey

Both teams played a triangular at Marlborough House with Sutton Valance. The A team played first against Marlborough House, and with such short pitches it proved difficult to start, with the centre of the pitch over crowding from both teams. After a while, we managed to tuck a couple of goals in from Amelie and Bea. After half time and reassessing strategy, the Holmewood team pulled ahead winning 7-1. Next up was the B’s v MH. Struggling again with the short pitch but putting pressure on constantly, Isla had a few shots at goal and managed to get in during the second half. Resulting in 1-0 win. A’s played a tougher match v SV with both teams equally matches in the first few minutes. Temi and Alice doing a brilliant job in defence, pushing the ball up constantly to Myra at Centre Mid feeding out to the wings, allowing us to score 2 quick goals winning 2-0. Finally was the B’s v SV. Emilia, Ellie and Sofia in defence, working hard and pushing the ball out to the wings, allowed some attacking play from Isla and Marsaili to get the ball up to our D twice. SV retaliated quickly pulling back to 2-1 and desperate for a second goal to result in a draw, they kept attacking hard down our defensive end. Final whistle blew. 4 wins across both teams and only a short shower of rain. KB

U9 Hockey

The U9 girls played 2 little matches against both Hazelwood and hawthorns. They were all trying really hard to send the ball wider even if it didn’t always make it there. All the teams won both of their games and there were goals scored by a huge variety of people. The effort the girls put in was great, keep it up.

U8 Hockey

Playing their second match of the season, the U8 girls played against Hazelwood at home. After a real downpour we got started and there was some improved play by all 3 teams. The girls were determined and worked hard showing tenacity in their tackling and running from end to end, but there is more work to be done on positioning and trying to understand the idea of moving off the ball. Next week we will be playing a triangular against Kent College and The Mead.