Sevenoaks School U18 Girls Hockey Team crowned Kent County Champions!

On Wednesday 28 September a well prepared 1st team squad of 15 Sevenoaks School hockey players travelled to Canterbury to compete in the Kent County U18 Hockey Tournament.

Never having won this tournament since it began, the squad certainly were aiming high, but a large number of them had represented Sevenoaks School U16 Girls at the National Finals last season. With the incentive of our name finally being added to the U18 Shield the girls were in a determined mood.

The morning pool games saw Sevenoaks play some superb attacking hockey – calm, composed and creative; an air of purpose filled the pitch on the gloriously sunny morning. An 8-0 victory over Colfe’s School got the ball rolling: Claire Somerset and Tash Farrant netting a brace each, Ellie Desmond, Lily Elliott, Lucy Lawson and Olivia Rendall completing the scoring with one apiece.

Kent College Pembury was next and Sevenoaks again professionally went about their way, Lawson firing in two, Somerset, Elliott and Lizzie Seeley contributing to the tally of 5-0. The final pool game against Tunbridge Wells Grammar School saw the rapid speed of Ellie Desmond totally tear the opposition apart. She finished off two moves expertly to give Sevenoaks a well-deserved 2-0 win.

Quarter-final opposition came in the form of Cranbrook School who proved a lot tougher than we had bargained for. An in form defence and goalkeeper saw a number of Sevenoaks players denied until finally frustration was eased as captain Lily Elliott drilled home a short corner strike to send Sevenoaks into the semis.

A 20 minute semi-final against Sutton Valence allowed Sevenoaks to get back into their stride and put together both solid defence work, as well as build some speedy and exciting attacking moves. Elliott gave the team the perfect start with a well taken strike and, again Desmond, fearless in front of goal provided the finish to a great move to put Sevenoaks into the Final and through to the Regional round as the top two teams progress forwards.

The Final

So the inevitable King’s Canterbury-Sevenoaks School Final began after Sevenoaks were given a quick five-minute drinks break! Both teams tentative at times in their play, chances were created at both ends with goalkeepers called into action to keep clean sheets. The score remained 0-0 at the end of normal time, Sevenoaks brilliantly defending a number of defensive corners just before the whistle blew.

A ten-minute extra time period could also not separate the teams: King’s took a 1-0 lead from a good counter attacking opportunity before the class of Lily Elliott shone through and Sevenoaks levelled to give a final score of 1-1.

With it left to a penalty shoot-out to decide who should be champions, Sevenoaks were feeling confident due to some excellent practice the previous day during their training session. King’s took the first and scored, Lily Elliott calmly levelled with hers for the first round as it looked like again nothing would separate these two teams. However, Sevenoaks goalkeeper Polly Lambert, who had only conceded one goal in 100 minutes, had other ideas and subsequently produced two excellent saves to deny King’s. Super Sevenoaks striker Lucy Lawson made no mistake on hers, and Lucy Roberts coolly stepped up and slotted home for Sevenoaks’ third penalty.

With King’s needing to score their next, the pressure told as the striker unfortunately hit the post and the Sevenoaks girls sprinted in to congratulate one another and celebrate becoming Kent U18 County Hockey Champions for the first time. All are congratulated on contributing superbly to the team’s performance throughout the day as it truly was a squad effort.

The team now progresses through the East Regional Round in November on their quest to reach Regional Finals and then National Finals at U18 level.

Squad: H Barker, C Bickley, M Bos, E Desmond, E Elliott, L Elliott (Captain), T Farrant, C Grossmann, P Lambert, L Lawson, O Rendall, L Roberts, L Seeley, C Somerset, N Wilkinson