Belper Junior Girls Indoor U16 and U18 Midlands Regional Indoor Finals
Belper Junior Girls U16 and U18 teams travelled to Wolverhampton on Sunday 8th December to take part in the Regional Indoor Finals.
The first game saw the U16’s taking on Lichfield. With several players new to indoor hockey the U16 took time to settle and found themselves 4 – 0 down at half time. Captain Sarah led the way opening the scoring within a minute of the restart with a well struck goal from open play. Two minutes later Helen followed suit to take the score to 4 – 2. Lichfield however proved to be strong in the attack and the final score was 7 – 2.
In the next game against Beeston, Belper found themselves constantly under attack. Helena scored two goals from open play but Beeston’s constant attacking style saw the squad suffer a 2 – 10 defeat.
The third game of the tournament against Stourport saw the team come back from 1 – 0 down to 3 – 1 by half time with Helena again scoring two and a determined run from Gemma earning a penalty corner converted by Sarah. Stourport fought back hard in the second half and despite the fantastic efforts of keeper Lucie and defenders Alice, Frances and Sarah managed to level the match 3 – 3. The final result came down to a penalty corner awarded on the final whistle. A drag flick from Helena secured the team a 4 – 3 victory.
The final game against Leicester saw the team score heavily in the first half with goals from Lucy, Sarah, and two for Helena leaving the team 4 – 1 ahead at half time. Sarah and Helena both scored again in the 2nd half with the final score 6 – 1.
Squad: Lucie Gale, Lucy Cooke, Gemma Williams, Sarah Glenn (C), Alice Selby, Helena Skinner Frances Schofield.
Belper U18’s started off with a very close game against Stourport. The teams both evenly matched found themselves 0 – 0 at half time. With little to separate them the only goal came when Belper conceded a short corner leaving Stourport with a 1 – 0 win.
The next game against Leicester saw Charlotte score a hat trick just 4 minutes into the game. Leicester responded with a goal of their own leaving the score 3 -1 at half time. The second half saw Leicester score 2 more goals from penalty corners but with Ellie scoring from a penalty corner and Charlotte assisted by Niamh V again adding the her tally from open play the squad ran out with a 5 – 3 win.
Belper v Wolverhampton saw some excellent defending from the Belper Girls including a save on the line from Alex. Charlotte again scored a hat trick in the first half adding another open play goal in the second. Niamh C also added to the tally and Belper again ran out the winners 5 – 1.
The final game against Beeston would decide the tournament results. If Belper won they would go through. Charlotte again got the team off to a great start scoring early in the first half. Defenders Nicola, Alex and Ellie along with keeper Carrie frustrated Beeston keeping them contained. The score still 1 – 0 at half time saw Beeston level the match 12 seconds after the restart. Charlotte again on the attack took the score to 2 -1. A converted short corner by Beeston levelled the match. With one of the Belper defenders off the field Beeston stole the advantage to take the lead 3 -2 and scored again in the final 30 seconds with a converted short corner winning by 4 – 2
Squad: Carrie Brewell, Ellie Miles (C), Alex Smith, Charlotte Gale, Niamh Vallack, Niamh Cahill, Nicola Hartey.
