A golden week at the Copper Box for HC Knole Park!
HC Knole Park’s U12, U14, U16 and U18 Girls all won gold medals at the Copper Box Indoor Championships in an unprecedented week of indoor hockey for the club! The U14 Boys won a fantastic silver medal as the top ranked club side in their competition and the Women’s VI also won a silver to add to this incredible medal haul. This is the first time HC Knole Park have been able to field sides from U10s to Adults which is a success story itself!
In the U12 Girls competition the girls won their first two matches to qualify for the medal matches, defeating London Wayfarers 2-0 and Saffron Waldon 5-0. In the medal matches they then beat Hertford, 2-1, Old Georgians, 3-0, Sevenoaks, 3-0, and Cambridge City 5-0, to set up a final against Surbiton HC. A superb goal from Farrah gave the girls a 1-0 win and the title! Overall Farrah scored 8 goals, and Emily B scored seven goals.
The U14 Girls won two of their qualification group matches with 7-0 and 8-0 wins against Old Loughtonians and Berkhamsted HC respectively. This left the tightest match of the competition against invitational side, West Panthers, to decide who would go through to the medal matches. West Panthers are an all-star side from the West of England, and it was the West Panthers who took the lead. However, a last-minute flick from Biba secured the all-important draw and the girls progressed to play off for gold.
In the first match of the medal stage, they struggled to capitalise on their chances having to settle for a 1-1 draw, but three superb wins against Surbiton, 2-0, and Sevenoaks, 5-2, and invitational national team UK Lions, 1-0, meant HC Knole Park won the gold! Biba top scored with 15 goals. Evie S and Celia both scored four goals each.
The U14 Boys were outstanding in the initial group stage. A 5-0 win against Hertford HC, 2-0 against Cheltenham and 8-0 against Stone, Derbyshire, meant the boys topped their group. In to the medal matches they played national side, the UK Lions where they drew 2-2. Two further wins against Cambridge 1-0 and Canterbury 2-0, and a narrow 0-1 defeat to Surbiton meant the boys were runners-up to the UK Lions and won the silver. As the top ranked club side in the competition the boys were delighted with their tournament. Isaac and Moritz top scored with seven goals each. Mack netting six times.
The U10 Girls and U12 Boys also participated and finished 8th and 11th respectively. Relatively young sides in their competitions, they played some great hockey and will all play in the same age groups next season. Flo top scored for the U10 Girls and Tedtop scored for the U12 Boys.
Duncan Parnis, HC Knole Park’s Director of Coaching, said: “This week has been incredible for everyone at HC Knole Park. To have been able to enter so many sides was fantastic, and the success of the teams was wonderful to see. Everyone works so hard in the background to make the hockey at HC Knole Park so enjoyable and aspirational; to see it all come together so well was a joy to behold. Many congratulations to every player, coach, and manager! You were all fantastic!”
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