U18G become West Indoor Champions and Qualify for the National Finals

The U18G won the West Indoor Finals in convincing style and qualify for the National Indoor Finals. Meanwhile a young U16G squad performed extremely well to come runners up in their competition.

U18

U18 players from 4 schools came together to deliver a strong disciplined performance in spite of most of them being ill. The first match was against an experienced Isca team with a German indoor specialist. Connie led the way with an early goal thus settling any nerves. This was followed 4 mins later by a goal from Ffion. Isca fought back to 2-2 with 2 well taken PCs before Lorna took us into half time with a cracking corner of her own. The team started strongly after half time with a quick goal from Connie followed by a cheeky little deflection, which gave her a hat trick. Lorna added another before Isca added to their score at a PC on the final whistle leaving a final score of 6-3.

Following Isca's 6-2 victory over Bath Buccs, we needed to win the final match. The team was highly motivated and, in spite of an excellent Bath GK, set about their task with alacrity. Caitlin, playing up, powered her way round the pitch to score a hat trick in 5 mins. Later Lorna (2), Gigi and captain Lara, in particular, scored to great celebration! A super all round performance with all 8 girls making a contribution; Amelia making confident saves, Ffion slotting in nicely at RB where she also provided an attacking threat; and Erin learning the art of being a forward.

U16

The day had started with our young U16 team from 6 schools taking on a vastly more experienced Lansdown squad. After an initial period where the game was even, Lansdown scored 2 goals in fairly quick succession that included a good PC routine. After regrouping at half time, the girls worked really hard to come back to 2-2 with goals from Amelia and Jess. Sadly in spite of some excellent saves by Poppy, Lansdown turned the screw to win 5-2. The final goal being such a PC flick that was so strong it toppled brave Rose into the goal.

Lansdown went on to win their match against Isca, so the final game was for runner up. Buoyed up by their previous performance and with some adjustments to our playing style, Cheltenham started the second match with purpose and scored through Ava. Isca were undaunted and equalised before half time. Not long into the second half Rose put us ahead, then the team defended well, with only 4 outfielders at one point, going on to win 2-1 and become runners up.

Players showed great flexibility rotating between the different positions in order to deliver the effect that we needed. Alice was a stalwart at the back supported at times by Rose - both have excellent flat stick tackles that defeated opponents. Meanwhile Liv contributed both in defence and the forward line. On occasions Ava held the midfield and then played in attack. Our main forwards, Jess, Amelia and Maddie, learnt over time that movement off the ball was key to creating passing opportunities and then eliminating an opponent.

Summary

Overall it was a very successful day of indoor hockey for the Cheltenham girls. Some outstanding performances and much learning achieved. The U18s now have the opportunity to enjoy a challenging set of National Finals. And many will play in the #indoorhockeyUK championships at the Copper Box after Christmas.