U18 Hockey team are off to National Schools in Spring!

Written by Natasha Jones & Jenny Dawson

Regional round

County round

With an early 4-2 loss against St. Benedicts in the season, the 1st XI hockey team were anxious in anticipation for our first match in the County tournament against our rivals An amazing goal secured a 1-0 win, boosting morale for the rest of our matches Our next match against Highgate proved contentious for Mr Henderson, but with a secure 2-0 win, it was evident he was coaching the right school To secure a place at Regionals, we had to win our last match against Latymer, a side who had been strong in their previous matches against But, NHEHS remained victorious with a 1-0 win, taking us first place to the regional tournament, and a promised trip to McDonalds

Tensions were high when the team realised, we would have to face St Benedicts yet again in the regional round An early goal boosted confidence and our formation began to take shape, as we were able to dominate possession throughout the rest of the game However, the last five minutes of the match proved challenging with Bennies remaining in our 23 and pressure was mounting A clearance down the pitch allowed us to steal a breakaway goal in the last minute The team all knew a secure victory in the next game would take us to Nationals, but were reluctant to get complacent against Trinity, a team we had not played before Goals followed goals as we stood 3-0 up in the first half But, as always, the match could fall away from us if we did not keep our strong defence. Another 3-0 scoring half (resulting in a 6-0 win) secured the team’s place at nationals The whole team was ecstatic with the result, our gold medals, and our promised McDonalds, and we can’t wait for the next round

Results from the tournaments

County

St Benedicts - 1-0 Win

Highgate 2-0 Win

Latymer Upper 1-0 Win

Regionals

St Benedicts 2-0 Win

Trinity 6-0 Win