Slazenger travelled to Brigshaw High School for their next tournament round. They faced off against two strong Wakefield U16 girls teams along with one from Leeds. Slazenger played some great hockey, with standout performances from many of the team. Unfortunately, as is often the case however, the hardwork and presistance was not shown in the final scorelines. However, the team can take encouragement from their performances which continue to improve from match to match.
Slaz 0 Wakefield (B) 3
Slaz started the match with a very good attacking streak with Elle Poskitt and Katie Browne running very well up front, with Katie Firth strong in the middle feeding the ball to the attackers. Sophie Willliams stayed strong up front making some good opportunities. Wakefield capitalised on a lucky break and went 1.0 up after the first 5 minutes, then had most of the possession for the duration on the match. Heather Bates was very strong in defence stopping many of the oncoming attacks and Emma Hunter and Nayesha Tejura worked very hard tracking back on a very good right Mid-frield Wakefield player. Kate Browne then moved to left defence and played excellent stopping her player on most occasions. New player Megan Smith put some good tackles in and marked well. Score finished 3 -0 to Wakefield but all in all a good effort from the girls against a strong Wakefield side.
Slaz 0 Wakefield (A) 4
Slaz started this game a lot stronger with Heather Bates feeding some good through and again we had some good possession in the first part of the game. Lauren McQueen playing centre back worked very hard, tracked her player well and we kept Wakefield out for the first 10 minutes. Emma Hunter again played well, putting in some very good tackles from right half and Lisa Gibbons at right back was much improved from the previous tournament. Wakefield scored a couple of goals from open play and took control of the game, Amy Toon did well in goal having many shots to save. The score finished 4.0 but the last goal was very dubious and a blatant Wakefield foul in the D before a shot on goal which was not seen by the umpires (one who was stood talking to the side line spectators all match whilst umpiring, very frustrating!) Slaz were much improved from the first game and stood up a lot stronger against the better of the two Wakefield sides.
Slaz 1 Leeds 0
Slaz showed excellent team spirit and were the better team against Leeds. Slaz had the majority of the play though out the whole match and looked very strong on the attack. Katie Firth and Nayesha Tejura were unlucky not to score on the first 5 minutes after two short corner attempts. Katie Browne, Nayesha Tejura and Sophie williams looked very strong down the left hand side and played very together. Alex stead tried very hard upfront and did well at a position she was not used to. Katie Firth stood strong in the mid showing excellent distribution. Slaz had the ball for long periods of the game showing excellent passing and team work. They were unlucky not to score from a number of short corners on the second period and many chances in the D. Slaz still battled on an earned themselves a short corner in the last few seconds and the umpires blew time. Heather Bates from the short corner fed the ball to Sophie Williams who took an excellent strike from the top of the D beating the keeper to score. Overall an excellent performance the girls should be pround of.Overall
Overall the team played much better than their previous performance, showing Slazenger’s true team spirit both on an off the pitch. The team is unluckly to go away from the tournament with such scorelines, as they rarely give a full account of the matches. Katie Browne was awarded the most improved and player of the tournament.
Team:Katie Firth (C ), Amy Toon, Heather Bates, Lauren McQueen, Megan Smith, Lisa Gibbons, Nayesha Tejura, Emma Hunter, Katie Browne, Elle Poskitt, Sophie Williams, Zoe Bacon, Alex Stead
By Sarah Hobbs; at Brigshaw High School on 7th November 2010
