Another fantastic weekend at HC Knole Park as our U14A Girls qualify for the England Hockey Supra-League National Finals, the Men’s 1st team secure promotion, and our juniors are off to Holland for England!
HC Knole Park’s U14A Girls won the England Hockey Supra-League (East) on Sunday in spectacular fashion with an 8-0 win over Cambridge City. England star Evie S scored a hat-trick, with Biba and Boadicea both scoring twice. Isla scoring the other goal. This means that HC Knole Park’s U14 Girls have qualified for the Supra-League National Finals in late April taking place at Lee Valley National Hockey Stadium! They will face Bowden HC (Manchester), Surbiton HC, and Clifton Robinsons HC (Bristol).
The U18 Girls played the invitational side English Universities XI. Made up of the best University aged players from around England. It was an honour for Knole Park to be asked to play against them. In a superb end to end match the girls were on fire! Charlotte opened the scoring with a powerful drag-flick into the bottom corner. Lottie doubled the young Knole Park sides advantage with an absolutely worldie! Picking the ball up in her own half, she dribbled through traffic, before bouncing a 1-2 with Olivia. With defenders still to beat Lottie, pulled the ball onto her backhand and smashed the ball into the top corner! Lottie made it 3-0 with another backhand – this time however from only 30cm! The university side were better in the second half and pulled two goals back however a penalty corner from Olivia and a penalty stroke from Lottie put the girls into an unassailable 5-2 lead. The English Universities scored a late consolation goal and it finish 5-3 to Knole Park.
Also, on Sunday our U8s and U12 Boys and Girls all travelled to the Canterbury HC Annual Hockey Festival. In a super day, all the teams played well with the U12 Girls picking up more silverware. The girls stormed into the final with wins against Wimbledon HC, Sevenoaks HC, Epsom HC, and Ashford HC. In the final they met a very strong Surbiton HC team who took the gold with a 3-0 win. The girls from Knole Park had to settle for silver on this occasion. Ella B was on fire and top scored for the U12 Girls. The two sides will meet again in May at the U12 National Finals where they will hope for a different score line. The U12 Boys finished 10th overall, whilst the U8 Mixed team beat Tunbridge Wells and drew with Canterbury HC and Ashford HC to pick up an amazing bronze medal! In the team’s first ever tournament, they played some fantastic hockey with David, Eli and Isabe all scoring!
The Men’s 1s secured promotion this weekend in the most unlikely fashion. They were given a last-minute walkover from Old Williamsonians HC meaning that the team couldn’t play, but they still recorded a 5-0 walkover win. Whilst third placed Sutton Valence HC did play, but lost to Marden Russets HC. The Men 1st team are now in second place and cannot be caught by third placed Sutton Valence and are promoted! A wonderful result for the young Knole Park side as they look forward to playing in Invicta Division Three next season.
The Women’s 1st team had another win in Invicta Division Two as they beat Blackheath and Elthamians 20-0! Summer top scored for the 1st team with five goals. Three coming in a blistering opening 10 minutes! Alessia, Anna, and Lottie all scored hat-tricks, with Bella netting twice. Amelie, Boadicea, Charlotte, and Elen all scored once. The Women’s 2s final match of the season was similar as they won 23-0. Biba was in top form as she scored seven goals! Ruth scored four, and there were goals for Cara & Amie, Betsy, Celia, and Ines. The Women’s 1st team take on Edenbridge on Saturday in the return leg of the team’s toughest match this season.
England Selection! Lottie has been selected for England U18s, and Anna, Evie, Josefina and Olivia have all been selected for England U16s for the upcoming tournaments against the Netherlands over Easter. We wish all the girls the best of luck!
This weekend is the England Hockey National Finals! The weekend every young player looks forward to and aspires to be at when the new season starts! Playing knock-out matches throughout the season, HC Knole Park have three teams playing: U16A Girls, U14A Girls an U14A Boys. Both girl’s teams are playing Beeston HC, from Nottingham, and the Boys are playing Winchester. With no previous record against either side it promises to be a fantastic day!