Knole Park’s U16 Girls are Top 4 in England!
Knole Park’s U16 Girls moved into the National Semi-Finals on Friday evening with a fantastic win against Guildford HC.
The match started fantastically as Josefina powered through to win a penalty corner. Lottie score to claim her first goal of the day. Lottie then took the Guildford defence on herself as she sliced through before hammering in a backhand strike. Lottie completed her hat-trick with a superb forehand strike. Heading to the left of the D, she realised there was no space. Lottie cut back and smashed in a great forehand strike! Anna then scored a sublime backhand strike herself – hit so hard the goalkeeper could barely see it to move! Before the end of the half Lottie scored her fourth of the match with another excellent finish. 5-0. On the stroke of half-time it was however Guildford who scored on the break to remind everyone about their qualities. A quickly taken free-hit caught the Knole Park defence off guard. This was then upgraded into a penalty corner which was hit home. 5-1.
The second half was a much improved performance. The girls passed the ball exceptionally well on the beautiful Guildford pitch. Keeping possession for long periods of time the girls created some great opportunities, however the Guildford goalkeeper was equal to them. Just after the mid-point of the half it was Imogen who broke the Guildford goal-line again. An amazing move starting on the Knole Park defensive goal line saw Grace take the ball out before rolling it to Jess and onto Amelie. Amelie then put a lovely ball through to Polly who selflessly squared the ball to Imogen to flick home. Wow! 6-1. Olivia and Amelie both scored from set-pieces to make the final score 8-1 and put the girls into the National semi-finals where they will face Wimbledon for a chance to play in the National Final!
Knole Park’s U14 Girls beat Surbiton to progress to the Final 6 in England!
Knole Park’s U14 Girls moved into the National Top 6 with a fantastic win against Surbiton.
In a really even first half both sides created some excellent opportunities and it was Surbiton who took theirs. On a breakaway, the Surbiton striker was able to hit the ball passed the on rushing KP goalkeeper to make it 1-0. As the half progressed the girls started to piece together more passes and their link up finally paid off. A lovely move through the right hand side was calming slotted home by Summer. 1-1 at half time.
The second half was a much more comprehensive KP performance as Charlotte scored twice from two excellent penalty corners and Evie Smith was able to roll home after a beautiful sweeping KP move from defence to attack! What a phenomenal goal!!
This gave the girls a 4-2 win and sees them through to the National Semi-Finals where they will play Cambridge City. A win against Cambridge will see them through the National Finals where three teams will play a round robin tournament for the National title!
Knole Park’s U14 Boys travel East and return with the win and a Semi-Final spot!
Knole Park’s Boys are through the National Plate Semi-Finals after a long away trip to Norwich saw them win 8-1!
In an excellent performance from start to finish the boys were on fire throughout. The boys attacked with great purpose down the wings, through Riley, Harry and Will G. The goals came from a Moritz hat trick, as well as Indy (2), Isaac, Mac, and Oscar. One of Indy's goals involved a run from half way line, beating half the opposition, twice!, in the process!
Goalkeeper Ollie made a couple of cracking saves & Luke was a tower of strength at the back. Teddy was always on hand to turn defence into attack with considerable flair. Norwich were a good side with some much bigger players.
The boys' confidence and team spirit seems to have grown through the internal summer league and now this run of wins in the plate competition, so the Semi-Final against Marlow next Sunday is an exciting prospect for us all!
Knole Park’s U18 Girls just come up short against Trojans
On Saturday Knole Park’s U18 Girls just came up short in the U18 Plate ¼ Finals against a good Trojans team. The captaincy partnership of Elloise & Sasha set the tone with excellent communication and encouragement, as well as superb work rate throughout the match.
The first half saw some exciting end-to-end play. The best chance coming from some superb outletting from Alice and Elloise, who found Sasha, who rolled in Grace for a stunning run into the circle. From the resulting penalty corner a good shot off the top from Sasha was saved by the keeper, but Alex trapped the bouncing rebound and finished with a trademark reverse strike into the bottom corner!
While KP had a lot of possession, outletting to the forwards remained challenging, and Trojans were able to put together some good attacking plays. Trojans scored their first goal on the counter, turning over the ball on the halfway line and catching KP unawares. Some good play from Trojans led to the second goal, leaving the score at 2-1 at half time.
Without converting our early second half chances, two goals from Trojans in the second half meant the game ran away from us. The score finished 4-1.
The game was played in excellent spirit and the girls should be proud of their run in the England Hockey Plate competition. We wish Trojans all the best in their upcoming games.
From a Knole Park point of view it has wonderful to be able to offer U18 hockey at the club for the first time. It has been great to see so many girls play so well. We are so ambitious for your hockey and we hope that these experiences will have been really valuable for you! Next year’s U18 team will be a force to be reckoned with!
We are especially pleased to see how much Grace has improved over the last two years. We have no doubt you will be a great player for whichever University you play for and we wish you all the best!
Knole Park’s Women’s 1st Team are through in style in the EH Plate!
The Knole Park women’s 1st team beat Havant 7-0 on Sunday in the EH Plate. Havant play in South Central Premier League so there was still a huge gulf in league status between the sides. But with both sides having both lost their first rounds matches in the EH Cup anything could happen in the first round of the second tier competition, the EH Plate.
The first goal from Olivia was after an excellent steal and pass from Anna in midfield. Olivia then ran half the pitch and rounded the goalkeeper to score. The second half was a much more dominant display for Knole Park. Sarah scored from an acute angle to double our lead, before Anna scored a very well-taken hat-trick – her first was a superb backhand strike. She then doubled her personal tally with a beautiful drag-flick high into the netting before rounding the goalkeeper for her third. Grace R and Olivia claimed the final two goals of the day. Grace R twice turned the ball over in the press. Her quick and dynamic running, as well as her selfless linking up play meant that she could link up Phoebe for her goal, before she put Olivia in to make it 7-0 to Knole Park. The ¼ Final is against Newbury & Thatcham next Sunday with a place in the Semi-Finals awaiting for the winners!