HC Knole Park’s U16 Girls get their Cup campaign off to a great start!
HC Knole Park’s U16 Girls played exceptionally well on Sunday as they won 15-0 in the EH Cup on Sunday against Epsom HC. Four goals from Olivia Breed, hat-tricks from Anna Faulstich and Amelie Allen, plus a double from Phoebe Gough-Cooper and single strikes from Lottie Bingham, Josefina Hippe and Annabel Cheveley gave the girls a convincing first round victory.
The girls were on fire from the first whistle as they kept the ball for the first 2 minutes of the match. Anna Faulstich then picked the ball up on the attacking 23m, beat several defenders before flicking the ball past the goalkeeper. This was a sign of things to come as the girls were clearly very motivated to play as well as possible after hearing the lockdown announcement just 24 hours earlier.
Lottie Bingham scored the second goal of the match with an excellent backhand strike, before Olivia scored her first after some sublime skills from Annabel Cheveley in the D. The fourth goal was more individual brilliance from Anna who picked the ball up on the half-way line and repeated her previous feat! Eliminating the defence, Anna entered the D at speed and then finished a fantastic solo effort!
The fifth goal was an amazing team goal, not too dissimilar to the first of the match. With almost every member of the team contributing; the passing, the accuracy, the movement was remarkable. The finish from Annabel was a touch of class too!
Olivia then completed her hat-trick with two very well taken goals. The first she won herself in the press before rounding the goalkeeper to finish. The next was a very well taken long corner from Jessica Lewis to put it on a plate for Olivia to finish. The final goal of the half followed more sublime hockey as the team strung together more fantastic link up play and Phoebe Gough-Cooper scored from close range. 8-0.
The second half was similar as the girls started very well. Some outstanding play from Josefina enable Phoebe to score her second of the match. Josefina then scored as she latched onto a rebound from a powerful strike from Lottie. Some more magic from Annabel set-up the third goal as her behind the back pass was finished by Amelie Allen for a quick fire second half hat-trick. Her second came from the silky skills of Anna and her third from a combination of Anna and Olivia. Olivia scored her fourth from another Jess long corner. Her mazy run eliminated 3 or 4 defenders before rolling the ball to Olivia to finish. The final goal of the match was another master piece from the girls. Anna started the play before rolling it onto Josefina, who passed to Phoebe, who passed back to Anna. The finish was pure class! 15-0.
Epsom were very kind and magnanimous in defeat. The game wasn’t as one way traffic as the score line suggests. Epsom did have some moments on the counter that Betrys Galloni, Cordy Jones, Katie Eedes and Elen Nicholls averted before they got through. Pascale was pulled into action a couple of times between the sticks too. The Epsom centre back and goalkeeper were also very good.
Duncan Parnis, HC Knole Park’s Director of Coaching said: “In fourteen years of coaching I have to say that this was one of the finest U16 Girls performances that I have ever seen. Epsom were a good team, but our girls were on another level. The quality of their passing, their confidence on the ball, their discipline and defensive techniques, as well as their finishing was incredible. As we enter the second lockdown I really hope they get more chances to play together this season. I am very proud of them - they really were superb!”
HC Knole Park’s U18 Girls are just edged out of the EH Cup
In the first round of the EH Cup, HC Knole Park’s U18 Girls were drawn against Spencer HC from South-West London. In a brilliant game the two sides were neck and neck throughout, before conceding twice in the closing moments. Goals from Amber Croll (2) and Summer Knight-Thompson for Knole Park show the strength and quality in depth at Knole Park at the moment.
Throughout the match Knole Park dominated possession. At times, close to their own defensive end with Alice Gigney, Amber Croll, Bea Jones and Elloise Paler showing really quality and calmness to outlet the ball. At others it was through the dynamic midfield of Summer Knight-Thompson, Harriet Medlen, Charlotte Watkins and captain Sasha Kelbrick. In attack the quality of Mackenzie Ward, Alex Sewell, Natalya Harvey and Grace Reeve was a joy to watch.
Indeed it was in Spencer's final third that the game looked the most dangerous. The Knole Park girls won a series of long and penalty corners throughout the match and these were the key moments for both sides as it was from these moments that we either scored or Spencer launched their counter attacks! Spencer scored four of their five goals on the counter attack, with the fifth coming from a defensive turnover and a penalty corner.
Summer scored the first goal from a really fantastic passing move. The Spencer GK who was busy all afternoon saved the first two attempts, but Summer managed to flick the ball into the open goal to bring the score to 1-1.
Amber scored her two goals from penalty corner routines which worked brilliantly! Sadly each of these goals were to just peg back the Spencer counter machine! 2-2 and the 3-3!
In the final moments an attacking play from Knole Park wasn’t judged to be converted and it was in the back of the KP goal within moments as Spencer launched another counter. In searching for parity once more, a mistake at the back resulted in another penalty corner, which was converted for a 3-5 loss.
The girls should be exceptional proud of their performances however. They really stepped up against a very strong U18 side. Knole Park now go into the Tier 2 Cup which is for the “lucky losers” from Round 1 and this will now be contested in the new year. With the U18 side being so new to the club, the opportunity to play more matches is welcomed and we hope to do so after lockdown.
HC Knole Park’s U12 Boys just come up short!
On Sunday, HCKP’s U12 Boys made their season debut against Blackheath. In an excellent match from both sides the boys played very well. A number of the boys were making their first appearance in a hockey match so this really was a tough morning, but they were fantastic! Two goals from Luke Hague and one from George Crawford were not quite enough to win on this occasion as the boys went down 3-9.
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