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Wednesday 2nd March 2022 was a proud day to be a Wellingtonian as the U14 girls’ hockey team travelled to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to play in the Tier 1 National Finals at Lee Valley Hockey Centre.
Wellington’s first group stage match began at 10 am against The Queen’s School, Chester, and after the nerves settled the team grew more and more into the game, Jess T (3, Hn) broke the deadlock at the end of the first half and secured a 1-0 win.
Next up was The Grammar School at Leeds. The girls started strongly and Alexa H (3, Ap) opened the scoring in the first half. Jess added another goal to her tally securing the 3 points before Leeds scored a late consolation goal to make the final score 2-1.
Wellington’s last group game was against old friends Millfield. The girls produced their best performance yet with some fantastic hockey but neither team could break the deadlock and the match ended as a 0-0 draw. This final point meant Wellington topped their group with 7 points and secured a spot for the gold medal match at 4 pm.
In the final, Wellington came up against the also undefeated Surbiton High School. Surbiton had some early chances and managed to score in the first half. The girls kept working hard and believing, producing a number of good opportunities of their own. However, as they pushed for an equaliser a very strong Surbiton team were able to counter-attack and seal the victory with two late goals.
The team’s coach Mr Farrington commented:
Our girls can walk away with their heads held high. Such bravery and courage, a real squad performance. Well done to all of them. Thank you to Mr Davison and Ms Holder for all their support too. This has just been the start of their Wellington hockey journeys and what a start it was!
Mr Dahl added:
So proud of these girls. It wasn’t to be in the final but to take home the Silver in the National Finals having only been together for six months is a phenomenal achievement. Many congratulations to Surbiton High who were superb and deserved the win.
As England Hockey describe it HERE this really was a day to remember for U14 girls’ hockey.
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