King’s Hockey take the Bronze at National Finals

For the first time in King’s Hockey history, the U18s made it to ISHC Plate Finals Day, which was held at Nottingham Hockey Centre.

The girls played their semi-final against Scarborough College, who had only lost one game all season; it was a very close game, with chances for both teams, and, despite going 2-0 down, the girls fought back well for Ruby C to score a very well-executed short-corner routine. They continued to work hard and, despite creating more goal-scoring opportunities, they could not find the equaliser.

The girls continued to have a positive mindset and were confident going into the third-place play off against Reigate Grammar School. Torrential rain came down from the start of the game and the girls could not hit their rhythm as Reigate took an early lead. In the second half, they hit the reset button and went back to the style of hockey that had got them to this stage of the competition. A brilliant passing passage of play saw Becca S score an outstanding strike on her reverse stick, nestling the ball in the bottom-left corner of the goal. Unfortunately, Reigate replied immediately from the restart, scoring a scrappy goal to put them 2-1 up with 10 minutes of the game remaining. The girls remained calm and trusted their processes, which allowed them to earn multiple short-corners; the first struck the post but the second was fired past the keeper by Bryony G. The game ended 2-2, which took the match to penalty strokes to decide who would take home the bronze medal.

After the first round of three strokes, it was 2-2, with goals from Ruby C and captain Lucy W. Jaime L then made an incredible save in the first round of sudden death, and Bryony G stepped up calmly to dispatch her stroke and earn the girls the thoroughly well-deserved medals.

Director of Sport, Mrs Miller-Symonds was full of praise for the team: ” I am incredibly proud of this group of girls; they have worked so hard throughout the season, and it is fantastic to see this pay off on the big stage of a national finals. They never let their heads drop throughout the day, but continued to work for each other, trust in the process and believe they would come away with a medal. A special mention must go to the amazing group of Upper Sixth, who have played their last competitive match for the School; it is wonderful for them to bow out on such a high.”