Westleigh U12 girls arrived at the National Hockey Centre in Beeston as Leicestershire Champions ready to take part in the Midlands Hockey Champtionship – the highest level of junior hockey. Over 100 clubs took part in the qualifiers across the various Midlands regions and they had been whittled down to just 16 clubs.
The girls looked very professional in their new playing tops kindly sponsored by Jelson Homes and Omexom and the shirt design looked brilliant.
The girls were drawn in an incredibly tough group (a bit like the boys U10s… must be a coincidence !) Beeston were up first and it was a baptism of fire for the girls. 8 goals went in, in very quick succession with some fabulous passing and ruthless finishing from Beeston. Sophie and Faye both got injuries from bravely closing down two Beeston short corners, but luckily the girls were super tough still carried on in the tournament. The Beeston girls were very determined to do well and they played hard and fair and were worthy winners. Beeston would go on to win the entire tournament conceding no goals! Next up was Worcester, last years U10 winners and winners of the Schools IAPS competition in March at the same venue. This time the girls got stuck in and had some strong periods of play closing down some big and strong opponents. The game looked evenly balanced and Westleigh even had some short corners but were unable to convert. The last few minutes were very tough as Worcester pushed for a goal and Nancy and Lilly were making lots of great tackles but finally Worcester broke through with two quick goals from rebounds and the game ended a 2-0 loss.
Leek were up next and were a team that had designs on winning the tournament having finished highly in the previous year. This game was even better for the girls, who had lots of possession with Alice and Poppy dominating out wide and finding great balls into the D. Darcey had some good shots saved but unfortunately no goals came. Much like the Worcester game Leek finished strongly and scored a goal with only 2 minutes left to play. Westleigh were so close to getting an equaliser when Mollie went on a solo run but unfortunately the game ended a 1-0 loss.
Some tactical changes were made for the next round of games and a new defensive partnership of Isla and Lilly was formed with the view of keeping a nice calm defensive effort to start off with and then bring on the aggression with Faye and Nancy to finish off the job. The quality opposition kept coming with Towcester up next, a very strong ladies club with a big junior section. This game turned out to be amazing. Westleigh took the lead early one with a brilliant finish from Poppy low in the corner nicely assisted by Darcey. After going 1 up Westleigh actually dominated the game with Sophie playing in centre mid as a new position and doing fantastically well linking up with the dangerous Alice who was causing so many problems for the opposition on the right wing. Such was the pressure from the Westleigh Towcester could not even clear their lines, with Darcey putting on an aggressive press at every opportunity. Unbelievably Towcester scored on their one and only attack with a mis hit shot that looped up over Neva’s pad into the goal. 1 – 1 draw but this is knock out hockey so the game went to shuffles. Luckly Westleigh had practiced their shuffles and had three brave girls step up – Poppy, Mollie and Lilly.
Poppy took the first shuffle a no nonsense swerve round the keeper and an easy finish. Towcester scored their first shuffle making it 1-1. Next up was Mollie who dribbled in the D with purpose but had her first shot saved, but showing nerves of steel she calmly took the rebound and slammed it in the goal 2-1! More drama was to follow as Neva ended up saving the next Towcester shuffle but was deemed to have fouled the attacker and so a flick was given. Towcester were able to bring on their main penalty taker for the flick but it made no difference Neva remained tall and moved like lightening to stop the ball with her kicker – what a hero Neva! This meant it was all on the last flick. Lilly was nervous but determined to succeed and glided past the keeper on the left and despite a big stick tackle from the keeper Lilly showed great strength and reverse-sticked the ball into the goal – Westleigh were winners and there was a great celebration! Credit to Towcester who played very well and also to their keeper as it is never nice being in these situations but it was a good experience for both teams in tournament hockey.
Stone were the next opponents and given the drama of the last game the girls started very slowly. Luckily they managed to get motivated again after some ‘encouragement’ from the coaches and enjoyed lots of possession and short corners but unfortunately no goals. Stone were good in attack and Isla made some great covering saves helping out Neva clearing the ball well from her pads. Faye was having good success with her big block tackles as well and the team looked comfortable in defence against such a good team. Westleigh were unlucky to concede a short corner late in the game as it was a clear foot from the attacker but being good sports the decision was not questioned as it is important to support the young umpires who are doing their best. Unfortunately Stone scored from their short corner and Westleigh lost the game 1-0.
The final game was against our good friends Charnwood HC and lots of the girls already knew each other from school so there was a nice atmosphere but the game was still played fiercely and Charnwood battled hard from the start. Westleigh played some flowing attacking hockey and this time the goals did come with Poppy scoring the goal of the tournament with a very strong slap shot high into the goal. Mollie then followed up with a trademark hard hit into the corner and finished off the scoring with a nice reverse stick spin. Despite winning 3-0 Westleigh still had a lot of defending to do and many times Nancy emerged with the ball from a scrum of players showing exceptional strength and timing. Despite this being the last game Poppy was covering every inch of the pitch in attack and defence showing fantastic fitness and Alice was again outstanding out wide creating lots of good go forward ball.
The game finished 3-0 to Westleigh but there were hugs all round and both teams can be proud of getting some wins in such a big tournament and flying the flag for Leicestershire Hockey finishing 11th out of 16, but really if you are a numbers fan, it was 11th out of 100 teams!
England Tiered hockey competitions now beckon for these U12s as they move up to U14s next season and this tournament, with all its highs and lows will serve as a great experience for them. As with all Westleigh fixtures the support from the sidelines was amazing and this really made the day very special for everyone – well done girls the Club are so proud of what you have achieved!