Magpies Under 18s with their bronze medals at the National Finals.
Back row: Jess Harvey, Emily Brown, Katherine Ridley, Catriona Maciver,
Georgie Minta, Jess Howland, Sarah Brook and Keira Booty
Front: Frankie Eaves, Jemima Jacobs, Rachel Herod, Fiona Mackenzie,
Holly Baker and Elizabeth Jones
Magpies started off with a very tough semi-final vs a Surbiton team with two England U18 players.
The girls got off to a terrible start conceding a goal in the first minute. However, they fought back and should have equalised shortly afterwards but the Surbiton keeper was quick to block Emily Brown’s close range effort from a brilliant ball by Catriona.
Surbiton continued to put Magpies under huge pressure but Jess Harvey in goal for Magpies pulled off a series of good saves backed up by 2 goal line clearances by Sarah Brook. Magpies were happy to get to half time only one goal down.
In the second half Sarah, Lizzie Jones and Holly Baker started to take control of midfield and Magpies were the stronger team, creating a number of good chances. 3 times we were one on one with the Surbiton keeper. In the last few minutes Magpies had 2 short corners but Surbiton broke away in the last few seconds to score a rather lucky second goal to clinch their place in the final (which they lost on penalty strokes to Canterbury).
Magpies were deflated and tired after a massive effort but you sometimes need a bit of luck in tight and tense matches.
They picked themselves to play a 3rd place play-off in the afternoon against Teddington who had lost their semi-final to Canterbury.
Magpies really dominated this match with Jess Howland and Emily Brown having an excellent games down the right. They put a number of good passes in the D on a regular basis. Emily put Magpies 1-0 up lifting the ball over the Teddington keeper.
In the second half Magpies had the chances to have won the game comfortably. Eventually Jemima Jacobs swept in a ring wing cross to put Magpies 2 up. Teddington did not give up and pulled a goal back with 6 minutes left. This led to a frantic last few minutes and some excellent defending by Katherine Ridley, Jess Howland, Sarah and Lizzie. There was also a rather strange incident were Emily Brown swept in a cross from Georgie Minta which seemed to hit the middle of the backboard and bounced a long way back on to the pitch. Magpies thought this was 3-1 and game over but the umpire waved play on thinking the ball had hit the post. Magpies got a much deserved 3rd place – a great achievement by this group of girls, particularly as 11 out the squad of 14 can play in the competition again next year.
The bulk of the squad can now look forward to the postponed indoor Nationals in 2 weeks time when they aim to defend their title from last year.
Thanks must go to our supporters – we had the largest group out of all the teams yesterday. It really makes a difference to the girls so thank you for your support throughout the season.
Silver Screen T Shirt printers Bungay
