Fantastic start to the new Season of Hockey
It has been a busy and successful start to the Hockey season, with RGS Hockey teams relishing the opportunity to return to playing competitive Hockey.
Congratulations to our Hockey Captains for this season:
1st XI Hockey Captain – Amelia Lane
Indoor Hockey Captain – Catherine Czyrko
Hockey Vice Captains – Kathryn Shaw & Grace Odell
Under 19 ISHC Tournament
Our Senior Hockey team travelled on Wednesday to play an away match in the Under 19 ISHC tournament, against King Edward VI High School for Girls. We arrived looking extremely smart and I was proud to watch the girls as they conducted their warm up with both confidence and professionalism. Two back post goals from Lucy Ball put RGS 2-0 ahead, and another from Alice secured a comfortable 3-0 lead at half time. King Edwards VI High School provided some challenges, and our girls solved problems and maintained control to double the half time score, winning 6-0. We now await the draw for the next round of the ISHC.
The team was in action again on Thursday, with a comfortable 9-0 win over Malvern St James Girls’ School in the England Hockey Under 18 Cup and will play Cheltenham College in the next round of this competition. I am excited for the season ahead, with these players who show consistent talent and understanding of the game across the squad.
Under 16 England Hockey Cup
On Thursday the RGS Under 16 Hockey team played Cheltenham College on Thursday in the first round of the Under 16 England Hockey Cup. Some Under 15 players joined the squad and for them this was their first experience of the 11-a-side game due to missing last season. Despite being 2-0 down at half-time, the team responded well and Amelia Bentley-Hughes scored an outstanding goal to bring the score to 2-1. RGS was then awarded a penalty corner after the final whistle, providing a nail-biting finish. Amelia scored again but it was disallowed for using the back of her stick in a challenging reverse stick strike. The team will progress in the Plate competition after an enjoyable first match.
County Hockey Tournament
The RGS Under 18 Hockey B team played in the first County Hockey Tournament of the season this week against Prince Henry’s High School. The girls got off to a great start with Captain Abigail Timmington, scoring an early hat-trick! The opposition kept the girls on their toes with a fast counter goal but Rebecca Yarwood ensured Abi wasn’t the only player to score three and also achieved a hat-trick. With further goals from Ellie Allen and Darcy Gray, the first game was won 8-1.
The next game against King’s Worcester was an even affair, although with Abi continuing to find the net twice it concluded with a 2-1 win. Game three against The Chase was an end-to-end thriller with more goals from Abi and Rebecca to win 5-3.
With a tired squad going into the last game against an undefeated Malvern College, the girls knew it was going to be a challenge and although the opposition were clinical and scored some outstanding goals, our girls showed every ounce of resilience and willingness to play to the final whistle. With the final result a 4-1 loss after a goal from Amy Cound, our Under 18B team were County runners up and qualify for the Regional Finals.
Miss Leanne Bennett
Head of Hockey
