National Hockey Final

Arnold’s U14 girls hockey team proved they could compete with the best in England, at the National Schools Final which was held at Cannock Hockey Club on Wednesday 2nd March. The road to this prestigious final started in September when Arnold won the county round, before going on to win the regional and north rounds to earn their place in the National U14 final for the second successive year.

As defending U14 national champions, Arnold played in the opening game against Canford School from the South. A close first half ended 0-0, but midway through the second half, Arnold were awarded a penalty corner and a perfectly executed move gave Hannah Denison the opportunity to sweep what proved to be the winning goal into the corner of the goal. This was a good result against a strong Canford team and a fantastic start to the tournament.

A confident Arnold team attacked from the start in their second game against Clifton College, and a superb solo run saw captain Francesca Beeby beat five players before rounding the keeper to put the ball in the net to open the scoring after six minutes. The second goal came from a another well taken penalty corner, but this time the opposition keeper half saved Hannah Denison’s shot only for Daisy Bradley to score from the rebound. Clifton came back in the second half, but good defending from Sophie Thomas and the ever busy Molly Betmead kept the score at 2-0 and Arnold were unlucky not to grab a third goal at the end. This result meant that Arnold had definitely qualified for the 3rd/4th place play off and only needed a draw from their last group game to reach the final.

This last game was against Norwich School who had a win and a draw from their first two games and needed to win against Arnold for a place in the final. So it was game on with Arnold going into the game, knowing they could not afford to lose. Arnold attacked from the start, never allowing Norwich to settle, and two goals in each half of the game gave Arnold an emphatic 4-0 win. All four goals came from different penalty corners strikes. The first came from Lucy Whalley who deflected a Hannah Denison strike into the net. Francesca Beeby got the next two, the first after beating two players in the circle and the next from a stop strike. The final goal came from Amelia Betmead who got on the end of a Hannah Denison pass to sweep the ball in from the right.

Three out of three wins meant that a jubilant Arnold team were in the final but needed to wait for the result from the other group match between Repton School and St. Georges to find out who they would meet. Repton won this game 2-1 and so both teams prepared for the final which was to be played at 4.30pm.

In the final, a close but end to end first half ended 0-0 with both teams battling hard in midfield and defending well. Five minutes into the second half, captain Francesca Beeby scored for Arnold, but Repton came back strongly equalising from a penalty corner strike with seven minutes to go. Three minutes later Repton took the lead, leaving Arnold no choice but to push players forward and go for goal. Unfortunately, Repton broke away and in a frantic scramble in the Arnold goalmouth, were awarded a penalty corner strike on the final whistle, which they scored from. Losing in a final is always a disappointment, but it must not take away from what the girls have achieved. To reach the national final they have won the county, regional and north tournaments and on the day played some exceptional hockey to remain unbeaten until the final game. To finish as runners up to become the second best team in England is an achievement they can all be very proud of. We were delighted not just with their magnificent effort on the pitch, but also with the way they conducted themselves throughout the day. Unfortunately so near and yet so far away sums up the final, but gracious in defeat as well as in victory sums up our team. Well done girls!

Finally, can I thank Mr & Mrs Kenworthy for sponsoring the playing shirts and Mr & Mrs Lucas for sponsoring the sweatshirts.

U14 National Schools Squad. Francesca Beeby (capt) Charlotte Tighe (GK) Hannah Nutter (GK) Sophie Thomas, Annabella Kenworthy, Molly Betmead, Mairead Lucas, Lucy Whalley, Elle Greenhalgh, Hannah Denison, Daisy Bradley, Victoria Matthews, Abigail Richardson, Sophia Fowler, Amelia Betmead.

Final Positions:

1st Repton School

2nd Arnold

3rd Canford School

4th St. Georges

5th Kings School

6th Clifton College

7th Queen Elizabeth’s GS

8th Norwich School

Posted by: Miss G Raby
Date: Monday 07/03/2011