hockey v casterton

Twelve hockey teams and over 140 girls represented Arnold on Saturday in matches against St. Edward's College frrom Liverpool and Casterton School, Kirkby Lonsdale.

The home games saw all teams win against St. Edward's. In the U15 game a poor first half was lifted by a fine individual goal from Rachel Fackey and a better second half saw Arnold begin to dominate with Heather Bottomley and Lara Cherry attacking strongly on the right. A good save by the opposition goalkeeper from a Rachel Fackey shot at a penalty corner led to a Lara Cherry left post goal. Charlotte Greenwood gave the team their 3-0 victory in the last two minutes of the game.

The U14B team had to soak up a lot of pressure in their game against the Liverpool school's U14A team. Arnold's player of the match Rosie Craven played a key role in the middle of the field and Claire Thistlethwaite grabbed the winner for Arnold in the second half.

Two goals from Courtney Spector, a penalty corner goal from on form Emily Adams, and a debut goal for Lauren Simpkin gave the U13 team a comfortable 4-0 win. Lucy Dale had an excellent game in midfield and was the player of the match.

The U12A team played superb hockey to win their game 10-0. Left forward Molly Betmead was the player of the match and the goals were shared between Molly (2) Francesca Beeby (2) Hope Kneale Kaye (2) Daisy Bradley (2) Sophia Fowler and Sophie Thomas. An Abigail Richardson hatrick for the second successive week helped the U12B team to a 4-0 win with player of the match Polly Carr scoring the other goal.

There were mixed fortunes in the games against Casterton School at Preston Sports Arena . The 1^st XI dictated play in their game and won 6-0. Harley Greene opened the scoring with an exceptional individual goal and a Georgia Perkins shot gave Arnold a 2-0 lead at half time. A perfectly timed, thirty metre through ball from Stephanie Lees, gave Sophie Oliver the opportunity to score Arnold's third goal with a well placed shot past the keeper. Good support play and passing led to three further goals in the second half. Two of them were scored by player of the match Lily Taylor and Sophie Oliver scored her second goal of the game.

In an end to end U16 game an Emily Foster free hit led to the opening goal from Faye Shearer. Imogen Davies gave Arnold a 2-0 lead before Casterton sneaked one back. Faye beat a defender before going round the goalkeeper to get her second goal and Arnold's third. A fine opportunist goal from Imogen Davies gave Arnold their 4-2 win. Annie Gillis worked hard in the middle of the field and was the player of the match.

The U15B team had to work hard in defence against strong A team opposition. Nicola Taylor, Rachel Riley and Charlotte Box linked well on the right to set up some good attacking moves, whilst debutant goalkeeper, Katie Goodacre, made two good saves. Nicola Taylor worked hard in defence to keep the final score at 0-0.

Shots from Charlotte Evans led to Arnold's opening goals in the U14 game. Charlotte scored the first with a well placed shot, whilst the second goal was scored by Leora Hyman after the goalkeeper could only block a shot from Charlotte. A superb slip pass from Holly Monteiro led to another shot at the goalkeeper for Charlotte Evans. This time Meghan Fearn was on hand to tuck away the rebound. Casterton got a goal back, but Holly Monteiro put the game beyond doubt with an impressive reverse stick sweep into goal.

Our younger teams struggled valiantly against much stronger opposition from Casterton. Despite some splendid defending from sweeper, Abby Taylor, the U13B team lost 3-0 to A team opposition and the U12C team fought hard but lost 8-0 to Casterton's A team. Under 12C team goalkeeper Hannah Nutter had a busy game but made some excellent saves under pressure in her first match in this position. The U12D team goalkeeper Danielle Gallagher also played well to help keep the score at 2-0 against Casterton's B team. Francesca Clark and Emily Brook defended well whilst Fatima Safri played well in the middle.

Posted by: Miss G Raby
Date: Tuesday 25/11/2008