Girls adapt very well to win on grass

Celebrations

Celebrations

On Saturday, the girls entertained Swanbourne House in front of their biggest crowd of the season at home on grass. They started strongly and were much faster to get to grips with the playing surface than their opposition by moving the ball quickly and accurately with some powerful hitting. In fact, the strength of the hitting created many opportunities as Swanbourne House struggled to come to terms with it and were not prepared to ring the hits enabling distribution to be that much easier.

Cosima Berry was instrumental in setting up many of the attacks and it was not long before Hannah Brindley and Constance Krarup were tormenting the defence with regular forays down the wings. If it were not for some brave goalkeeping the deadlock could have been broken earlier. Midway through the first half, there was a scramble broke out in the opposition goalmouth and Ellie Lewis was on hand to tuck the loose ball home. Chances came and went as the surface produced the occasional indifferent bobble to take the ball away from an attackers stick.

The girls came out with renewed determination in the second half and needed to be at their best as the opposition came to terms with the surface. They were fast on the break and it took an extremely well organised defence, superbly marshalled by Helen Bewicke-Copley, to withstand every attack with composure. Sasha Worrall, at sweeper, had a quiet game although coped very well when required and this meant that Brooke Millhouse had nothing to do in goal. Alannah O’Donnell, Helen Francis and Charlotte Newman worked well to support the attacks and also defended resolutely. More opportunities were created in the second half with Hannah Hawkesley and Genevieve Barton key figures in the opposing ‘D’. Some well worked short corner routines narrowly missed the goal but provide optimism for future matches. It was not until, with a few minutes to go, Hannah Brindley found herself free at the far post to slot the ball home to seal the victory.

It was a much improved performance after Wednesday on a tricky surface.

Many thanks for all the parental support on the touchline. It gave the girls an excellent boost and was much appreciated by them all.

This week brings with it the section matches on Wednesday and the County tournament on Thursday at which parental support is more than welcome and encouraged.

Well done.

CJH


Tags: Hockey, Prep, Sport