U13’s Hockey Tournament

The U13 girls’ hockey team travelled to Beaconsfield High School for the U13 IN2 Hockey tournament on Monday 23^rd February 2015. The girls were the first team on against the hosts Beaconsfield High. Helen Windsor captained the team to a 0-0 draw.

With a 20 minute break and a post-game chat on the minibus the girls went into their next game full of confidence and ready to play local rivals Sir William Borlase. The girls worked hard on the pitch; they fought for 15 minutes non-stop and were rewarded with a 0-0 draw again.

They had earned themselves two points on the score board.

The third game was against Aylesbury High School on pitch two. Molly Griffiths had a storming game, playing down both the left and right of the pitch and working well with Issi Hansen in midfield. Helen Windsor scored the only goal of the game from the top of the D and the girls celebrated winning their first game of the tournament.

The fourth game to be played promised to be one of the toughest games as it was against Dr Challoner’s Grammar School. Rachel Burlison and Flo Braybrooke held strong for the first 10 minutes, and Sophie Smyth made some stunning saves, but they just couldn’t keep Challoner’s from scoring. The game finished 1-0 to Challoner’s.

The penultimate game was played against Wycombe High School, who had already won all of their games. Maisie Rhymer was fantastic at pressurising the defence of WHS, which drove the girls to work hard as a team for the full 15 minutes. Sophie Smyth had her best game of the tournament, which saw Great Marlow keep the score down to only 1-0, the least scored by Wycombe in a single game in the whole tournament.

Having drawn two and lost two and with only one win, GMS were on a high in the final game. Georgie Webb and Flo Braybrooke had chances to score; resulting from well worked passes in the midfield. However, it was Jessie McAuley who broke the deadlock by scoring in the first 10 minutes. In the last minute GMS won a short corner that enabled Helen Windsor to score in the final minute of play: the game finished  2-0 to GMS.

The girls’ team finished mid-table with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 loses. A great score resulting from fantastic team play. As a result of the great support from the second goalkeeper, Jas Kisbee, the girls’ were delighted to be mid-table. GMS is the only second upper school amongst all the grammar schools in the area to score so well. Comments were made on how well and how far the girls’ have progressed in the last two years.

I could not be prouder of the dedication to the team, to each other, to the school and to their hockey. Well done girls.