U12 Girls take 2nd Place at Hampshire Tournament

Last Sunday saw a brief respite in the recent rain for the Hampshire U12 In2Hockey tournaments at Haslemere. With some sunshine to keep players and supporters a little warmer than usual, the players were in high spirits. The U12 girls, arriving for their afternoon tournament, were buoyed by the news that the U12 Boys were having a great tournament; finishing in 4th place.

After a wait for their matches to start, the first match was against Winchester - a team that we've had some excellent matches against. After a few minutes of finding their feet, Fareham started to attack deep into the Winchester half. Winchester however were our equals and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. This was nervous start as last year a draw in the first game lead to a difficult quarter final draw and early exit from the cup competition.

Our second match was a local derby against Havant. We'd seen Havant drawing with Winchester and thought that this might be another difficult match. From the outset, Fareham pressed Havant very hard and were quickly on the score sheet with goals from Grace and Izzy. The game ended with a 5-0 win to Fareham

The third match was against another local team, Gosport. Again, Fareham pressed hard and kept most of the play in the Gosport half. A well fought match ended as a 4-1 win to Fareham

Our next match was the toughest so far. We took an early lead but Andover equalised and the game was wide open again. The girls, sensing that the win was required to progress in the competition put everything that had into the last few minutes. Izzy, following a turnover, broke through the New Forest defences and calmly pushed the ball around the stranded keeper taking the win at the last minute.

The final pool match was against a strong New Forest team. If Fareham won, we'd go through top of the group; lose or draw, it'd be second and a tougher semi final. The match was played at a frenetic pace with both sides equal for most of the match. In the final seconds of the match, Fareham won a crucial penalty corner. The ball was injected by Lois and after a short routine, received it back. Calmly Lois slotted the ball into the back of the New Forest goal to secure the win.

After a short break allowing the girls to refuel with cake and sweets, our semi final against Romsey. The match was a close and ended goalless. Lauren, having not had much to do in many of the matches, stepped up and performed brilliantly saving a Romsey flick. Grace, Lois and Izzy scored their flicks and Fareham were through to the final!

The final was a close fought match against Haslemere. Chances for both teams were few and far between but with energy levels dropping quickly, Haslemere managed to score with a few minutes left and clinched the Hampshire cup.

The girls had performed brilliantly throughout the day and should be very proud of their accomplishment. Many thanks to Tom for managing, Camilla for organising the team and Dave for umpiring. The girls move onto the Regional Tournament at Surbiton on 26th April

Players' Player of the Tournament - Lauren
Coach's Player of the Tournament - Harriet
Parent's Player of the Tournament - Sophie