U14 and U16 Hockey Girls Qualify for Regionals!

Felsted’s U14 and U16 girls showed their hockey prowess at recent Essex Tournaments, with the U14 team being crowned Essex Champions and the U16 team claiming the Essex Runners-Up title.

Only conceding two goals all day and scoring many more, the U14 Felsted girls showed their hockey prowess at Redbridge on Thursday 16th October, beating Coopers Coburn (2-1), Forest (6-1), Chelmsford County High (3-0) and King John (9-0) in the group round, Brentwood in the Semis (1-0) and Chigwell in the Final (1-0). They now qualify as Essex Champions for the East Regional Tournament on Tuesday 11th November at Bedford School.

The U16’s played at Redbridge on Tuesday 7th October, beating Brentwood (3-0), HRS (2-0),  and Chigwell (2-0) in the group stage, New Hall (6-0) in the semi-finals, but unfortunately lost to Coopers Coburn (1-2) in a tight final. However, as Essex Runners-Up, the team still qualify for the East Regional Tournament on Tuesday 18th November at Bedford School.

U16 Team player Alexandra Went, was particularly happy last week as she has been selected by England Hockey for the HiPAC (High Performance Assessment Camps) Squad. The Camp takes place annually during October and is all about training. Young people in the U15 and U17 age groups are selected from the JRPC Cluster Days to come together and train with some of the country’s finest coaches. As an integral step on the Single System ladder, the HIPACs aim to show players in the U15 age group that training is as important as competition and they will be taken through a number of sessions both on and off the pitch. Alexandra will travel to Sports Park Weetwood, Leeds for three days of training from 26 – 28 October.
Picture 1: U14 Essex Champions
Picture 2: U16 Essex Runners-Up

U14 C v Kimbolton

Tuesday 11th February 2014

Lost 3-0

Faced with the daunting prospect of an Under 15b team, and a team that had won four out of five fixtures to date this season, including wins over the likes of Haileybury, the Under 14c team performed extremely well.  Led by Alex Manson, who was very influential at the back, and with an inspired performance in goal from Jack Adshead-Grant, the team fought back after conceding an early goal, to take the game into half time at only 1-0.  After the break, the dogged defence continued, with Fred Latham and Tom Jardine to the fore, and with a little over five minutes to go, Felsted had a great chance to draw level, which unfortunately went just wide of the left post.  As Felsted piled forward in the hope of an equaliser, gaps were left at the back, and Kimbolton managed to grab two goals in the last few minutes.

All in all, this was a very impressive team performance against an older, and more experienced side.  There was some good hockey played by all those who took to the field.

Man of the match: Jack Adshead-Grant.

U14 B v Gresham's

Tuesday 14th January 2014

Won: 2-0

From the Captain, Jem Salmon
An exciting game from the U14 B team on Tuesday 4th February. Winning 2 goals to 0, the boys played a strong game, finding it easy to break through the Gresham's defence. With goals from Cameron Cowie and  Ollie Tomlinson Rowe, Felsted had a good lead and continued to put pressure on the Opposition throughout the game.

Man of the match goes to both our centre defenders Serge Savva and Toby Guild for keeping our defence strong and not letting the opposition get within shooting distance. Man of the match Serge Savva gives us the secret to our success, he said 'we worked strongly as a team and dominated the opposition.' Our other man of the match today, Toby Guild, says 'we made our passes perfect and made the most of our opportunities'


Coach's Corner
This was a very pleasing performance from the entire squad, particularly given the fact that we had not played a competitive match for over three weeks. The 'new look' defence was outstanding, with centre back pairing Toby Guild & Serge Savva being the very personification of 'rocks at the back' whilst Samuel Barrett and Max Cochrane added a genuine attacking threat from either defensive flank. Consequently our intimidating goalkeeper Will Barker managed only three touches all game and not one of those was a shot at goal!

The midfield were a different class to the Gresham's players and dominated for most of the match, whilst our forwards - Cameron Cowie, Jem Salmon and Dan Conlon - were much quicker than Gresham's defence. However the boys displayed a certain level of naivety in trying to play too much hockey in front of the Gresham's 'D' meaning the first half finished goal-less. I was much happier with the opening to the second half as the boys moved the ball wide and created a number of opportunities which culminated in Ollie Tomlinson-Roe's drag flick to score the first goal. When Cameron Cowie scored the second goal, I was hoping the boys would kick on and score another couple, but a combination of good goalkeeping and some poor finishing left it at 2-0.

Our focus for the next couple of weeks will have to be on decision making in possession and movement off the ball. This squad have real potential and I fully expect some of them to make the step up to 'A' team at some point this season.

Boys' U14 C v Sutton Valence

Saturday 11th January 2014
Result: Draw 1-1

Felsted's season began with a promising draw against the B team from Sutton Valence.  In a positive start, Felsted created a series of chances, before Max Cochrane neatly finished a short corner to put the home side ahead at the break.

After the break, Sutton Valence came back strongly, and after a few exchanges in midfield, they forced home an equaliser. Both sides played positively, looking for a winner, and the final chance nearly saw Felsted grab a victory, but it was not to be, and honours were shared.

Man of the match was Ollie Tomlinson, and captain today was Jackson Buckler.

U14 Girls' Regional Success

On Tuesday the U14 girls' hockey team travelled to Haileybury for their regional tournament. First up were The Perse; a bright start saw Georgie Back score from a short corner. The Perse equalised in the second half; despite a strong rally, Felsted could not find the winning goal.

Match two was against a strong Ipswich team. A vastly improved performance saw Felsted run out deserved 2-1 winners; goals coming from Alex Went and Rebecca Earl. The final group game was against Norwich County High School. A poor first half saw Felsted fall behind; too much was required in the second half and Felsted lost 3-1.

However, in a tight group, the girls finished second. In the cross-over match, Felsted played the winners of group B, Framlingham, who had won all their matches so far that day. In a tightly contested game, Felsted again rose to the challenge of playing against an excellent side. The game ended 2-2 with goals from Alex Went and Rebecca Earl.

Up next, penalty flicks. After five successful penalties from each team, we entered sudden death. On the second Framlingham penalty, Sophie Weston pulled off a stunning lunging save to her right and deflected the ball wide of the goal to send Felsted through to the next round!

The next round is on the 26th at Haileybury. A successful day would see the girls progress to the National Finals.

U14 Girls' - Essex Champions

The U14 girls' qualified for the hockey Regionals in stunning style on Thursday 17th October, winning the Essex tournament. They met Brentwood in the final, and taught their opponents a lesson in Hockey, winning 6-1. Their run to the final was equally impressive, scoring 26 goals in five games, before their crushing victory to win the overall competition. They are now looking forward to the Regionals in a few weeks. 

Girls' U15 B v Bishop's Stortford College

The U15 B side were keen to get a win before the half term break, having been close several times earlier in the term.

Felsted pressed hard from the first whistle and were looking strong on the attack.  Good runs by forwards Emily Illhardt, Megan Mankelow, Kathryn Percy and Saskia Malins eventually paid off with Megan sweeping the ball into the back of the net.  This riled Stortford who started to attack hard and there were plenty of strong battles from the midfield of Laura Winter, Olivia Fenn, Tia Richards, Poppy Mifsud, Charley Butler and Charley Adams. Stortford managed to get several penalty corners but were denied every time with some excellent saves from Annabel Sunnucks in goal.  Everyone was relieved when the half time whistle went.

After some positive words from coach Davey the girls went out, clear in the knowledge that if they dug deep and worked as a team they would come out as victors.  It seemed that Stortford also had a similar talk as soon as the whistle went they were strong on the attack. The defence of Abby Fenn, Hannah A’Violet, Hannah Barrett and Giselle Bacheta battled hard and stopped plenty of Stortford’s chances.  However, as time went on Felsted raised their game and created plenty of attacking chances, with the keeper having to make some very important saves.  With depth from the bench constantly rolling on and off the Stortford girls’ didn’t know what to do.  With the final minutes showing some very good hockey and end to end play the Felsted girls’ were pleased when the final whistle went and they were winners.  They dug deep and pulled together to get the 3 points they deserved. 

The girls play RHS Holbrook on Thursday in their last game before the half term break, where they are hoping to take another win.