County Hockey Success

11 October 2016

Stowe hosted the North Buckinghamshire County Hockey Tournament this year and entered teams at U14, U16 and U18. The top two teams would qualify for the County Cup.

On Tuesday 4 October the U14 girls played a Round Robin tournament against the Royal Latin, Akeley Wood and Thornton College. After a convincing 4-0 win against Akeley Wood in the first match the U14 girls came from behind to beat Thornton 2-1 in the second group game. Due to other results, the Stowe girls' qualification was still in the balance and minimum of a draw was needed in their final match in order to guarantee qualification.

When the Royal Latin scored to go 1-0 in the last match, Thornton, Stowe and the Royal Latin were all tied on 6 points with identical goal difference! A late Stowe equaliser meant that Stowe progressed as group winners on 7 points with Thornton College progressing with them on 6.

The U18 girls’ tournament was held on Wednesday 5 October with the same four teams entered. The Royal Latin beat Akeley Wood 1-0 in the opening match before Stowe took on Thornton in the second. Stowe dominated from start to finish and was lethal in front of goal winning the match 9-0 in 25 minutes.

Stowe next played Akeley Wood and although they had the lion’s share of possession they could only find the net once during the match. This was good enough however for a 1-0 victory which was enough to send the girls through. Stowe's final match was against the Royal Latin who was also on 6 points, this results would decide who tops the group.

It was a similar match to the second as Stowe dominated possession but found clear cut chances hard to come by. Eventually Stowe scored after a well worked short corner and saw the game out to be crowned North County Champions.

The U16 girls were next up on Thursday 6 October and played the Royal Latin in their only match. With only two teams entered, both schools were guaranteed qualification but the North County crown was up for grabs. The Royal Latin had the better of the first half but spurned two clear cut chances and Stowe hung on to go into half time 0-0. The second half was much better as Stowe started to create more chance and two quick goals sent Stowe through as Champions.

A fantastic week for Stowe Hockey and good luck to all teams in the County Cup next week.

Ben Scott, Head of Hockey