U14 Girls National Festival

On Sunday 12th May, in glorious sunshine, the U14 girls captained by Louise Osborne played in the U14 England Hockey Festival at Warwick School.

With a small squad of 8, they first took on a strong Leicester team and consequently the keeper, Jess Potter, was put through her paces and played a blinder. Cambridge were the next competitors in a very even game with Bromsgrove having the lion's share of penalty corners and Ella Kenward creating chances down the right wing. However the finishing skills of the opposition proved crucial and allowed them to come away the victors.

Into the afternoon and the next team up were Northampton. This was an excellent game with the girls getting an early goal through a move down the left side and Daisy O'Donnell finishing it off to score. Northampton then threw everything into attack but the defence of Rosie Cantle and Charlotte Howell, ably martialled by skipper Louise Osborne, were resolute and the girls held on to win 1-0.

The last game of the day was against Warwick. The girls were starting to gel and play some excellent hockey. Holly Potter opened the scoring with a well taken slap shot and Imogen Bridge hit an aerial flick from Louise Osborne to make it 2-0. A determined defence led by Jess Potter worked hard to keep the clean sheet and win 2-0.

A fabulous competition and excellent team spirit in the face of some very well drilled, experienced teams. Well done all.