Saturday morning dawned cold and bright, and despite the term ‘all-weather' that is attributed to synthetic hockey pitches, they are still susceptible to hard frost, as was the case with the pitches at Lancaster University, where our teams were due to play Ripley St Thomas School.
After close inspection one pitch was deemed payable, just, and although it was slightly slippery it was the unpredictable bounce of the ball on the hard surface that caused most problems.
As the 1st X1 match started, Ripley coped with the conditions better than we did and played with far more aggression. KEQMS were far too tentative and before long found themselves a goal down. A swift response, saw a through ball chased down by Olivia Swift, who managed to jab it past the keeper to equal the score. Ripley continued to dominate in mid-field and just on the stroke of half time they took the lead again.
It was clear that we were going to have to increase the pace of our game in the second half and use our speed out wide to get around the back of the Ripley defence. The game plan began to work as time and again we had shots on goal, but the Ripley keeper was in fine form and kept on producing some excellent saves. However, some good interplay between Katie Holder and Natasha Singleton down the right resulted in a goal, with Natasha gently pushing the ball past the keeper. With Ripley still looking dangerous on the break Gabby Little was kept busy at sweeper and provided some good ball out of defence which allowed us to keep building the pressure on Ripley.
With the final two minutes of the game singled by the umpires it looked as though a draw would be the final result, but continued attacks by the forwards resulted in the Ripley defence conceding a short corner on the stroke of full time. Penalty corner practice is never time wasted, as it proved when a well-worked routine resulted in a Katie Holder goal to win the game 3-2.
Perhaps not the best performance by the team, but they deserved the win after a better second half performance, pushed on from the back by player of the match, Gabby Little.
Next it was the turn of the U14 team to take to the ice, or so it appeared as many of the girls let the conditions play on their mind. As a consequence, Ripley were first to the ball on most occasions and began to dominate play. Phillipa Woods , however, began to gain confidence and started to take control in mid-field, feeding some good balls through to Abigail Gitsham at centre forward.
The second half continued in much the same way, with a lot of chances being created but none converted. Ripley proved to be very resilient and were always strong on the ball when in possession. This strength and determination paid off late in the game and two quick goals proved that persistence can pay off. A disappointing result which did not really reflect the game. For all her efforts, Abigail Gitsham was player of the match. Lost 0-2
With the conditions improving slightly, a hard fought game saw KEQMS U15 team come away with a 3-0 victory against a mixed U15/16 side from Ripley St Thomas. A solo run by Sophia Crawshay in the first half made it 1-0, but despite a lot of possession they could not add to it.
Shortly after half time KEQMS scored from a well worked short corner routine with Sophia again finishing the move. Ripley tried in vain to open up the KEQMS defense, but strong defensive play meant that they failed to come up with any answers. A strong counter attack and well executed passing between Alex Livesey and Katy Alderson lead to Sophia Crawshay completing her hat-trick, making it 3-0 at full time.
Hat-trick Heroine Sophia Crawshay
