National finals
On Tuesday 25 February the College U16 girls started two days of matches at the National Schools Hockey Championship in Cannock. The eight best teams in the country were divided into two groups for the initial stage of the competition.
Eastbourne was drawn against teams from Denstone College, Kent College and Wakefield Girls School. The other group comprised Clifton College, Cranleigh School, Leeds Grammar School for Girls, and the Perse School.
In their first match the Eastbourne girls met Denstone College for a hard-fought battle. Both teams played well but the final result was a 4–1 win to the Denstone girls.
In Eastbourne’s second match of the day they met Kent College. The College scored within the first five minutes and were 2–0 up at half time. Kent College fought back but the Eastbourne girls held on and ended the game with a well deserved 4–1 win.
In the final match of their group the Eastbourne girls played Wakefield Girls School on Wednesday morning. With a half-time score of 1–1 a spot in the final hung in the balance but sadly the match ended with a score of 3–2 to Wakefield.
This means that the Eastbourne College U16 girls hockey team finished the Championship ranked 5th in the country – a truly fantastic achievement.
They were a real credit to the College throughout the competition. Their commitment and performance were consistently superb in close matches against strong opposition.
