The Knole Park Indoor Championships restarted on Sunday with the U16 & U18 Girls. In a two match series the girls were excellent throughout the morning’s matches.
In Match 1 the Navy team got off to a flying start. An excellent individual effort from Josefina Hippe opened the scoring. Cordy Jones then scored twice in quick succession. The first after an excellent piece of individual skill from Betrys. The second came after a superb run out of defence on the counter-attack from Elloise Paler. 3-0.
Whilst it looked unlikely that Whites would score with Pascale Pottier making several good saves. A superb through ball from Elen Nicholls however put Amelie Allen in who rounded Pascale to score. 3-1. The final goal of the half came from Camille Poracchia. After some aggressive pressing she won the ball and slammed it passed the on-rushing Alice Reeve to make it 4-1 at the break.
The second half was a much closer game and things looked very good coming out of half-time as the Whites pieced together the goal of the tournament. A passing move involving all 5 outfield players was calmly scored by Sasha Kelbrick. 4-2. Despite this goal, the Navy team had too much in the end for the Whites. Josefina won the ball in the midfield once again and rinsed through the Navy defence before going 1v1 against the GK as well to score. 5-2. Camille once again pressed very well to get her second of the match. Tackling well to force the error, Camille rolled the ball into the open goal. 6-2.
Navy’s seventh goal was scored by Josefina for her hat-trick. Once again she showed her composure and quality on the ball to glide through the White defence, rounded the GK and made it 7-2. The White team did have the final say as Grace Reeve scored after a good carry from Elen out of defence, but it was too little too late. The final score was 7-3 to Navy’s.
In Match 2, the teams will mixed up slightly. Amelie starred for the Navy team in a 5-4 win over the Whites.
It was Amelie who got the match scoring underway. A slightly scrappy finish after a number of saves from Alice Reeve in goal. Navy’s had a chance to double their lead shortly after but sadly missed from the penalty spot. Over to the White’s and it was a Charlotte Watkins penalty corner special that brought the teams levels at 1-1. Amelie’s positive pressing resulted in a defensive turnover and she scored well from the subsequent opportunity to put the Navy team back in front. 2-1. But before half-time another piece of individual magic from Josefina brought the half time score to 2-2.
The second half was a similar tight game. Jess Lewis put the White’s in front with a power flick from a penalty corner. However a run of three goals in almost as many minutes from the Navy team put them 5-3 up. First Amelie scored again from close range before Bea Jones slotted home after a loose ball presented itself in the D. Amelie then scored a super goal from the left shoulder of the D to take her personal tally to four for the match! As White’s pushed on they scored their own well taken goal as Grace calmly slotted the ball passed sister Alice to make it 5-4. Running out of time, that’s all there was time for and that’s how it finished. Many congratulations to all the girls that played - It’s been a long 6 months since our last match! Let’s hope it’s not as long before our next!!