Girls' Hockey: U11 IAPS Hockey Qualifiers
On Wednesday, 12th October the Under 11 girls set off for another tournament at Fettes. This time round we were playing teams that we had not come up against yet – Ardvreck, Fettes and Sedbergh. We arrived and had a lovely packed lunch in the sun then got our game faces on and prepared for the first match.
We were up against Ardvreck first, who had some speedy wings, but not speedy enough to get past our solid defence of India and Daisy. To start with it was an evenly matched game but in the second half Belhaven made some great breaks and had a number of close shots on goal. Unfortunately, the whistle went to end the second half with no score from either team.
Next, we played Fettes, Ottilie scored a brilliant first goal, dodging around their defence and going one on one against the goalie. We were one up at half time but then excitement got the better of us and Fettes got 2 goals before the final whistle.
Our final pool match was against Sedbergh. The girls played the amazingly – Iris, Maggie and Emily driving the ball up the wing feeding it in to Wendy and Ottilie. Again, one of those passes met Ottilie and she fired the ball into the back of the goal. We knew then that we had to up our defence to make sure they did not get one back. Willow did some amazing blocks in goal and sent the ball out wide with a big kick. Bella backed up India brilliantly and sent any ball that got through back up the other end. The final whistle blew and we had won the game.
Overall, we came second in out pool which meant we had a tough match against Loretto, who came first in their pool, up next. The girls worked their socks off and Wendy led her team superbly. Loretto had some strong players and we came away with a loss.
In the playoff for 3rd place we were back against Fettes. The girls had nearly spent all their energy but they showed amazing determination and courage. Even when we let a goal in the girls picked up the ball and ran back ready to play. In the last few minutes, Belhaven had a number of very close shots on goal, so close that Iris jumped for joy a little too early as the ball was stopped by the goalie. Overall, it was a brilliant day of hockey and the girls have showed superb sportsmanship and skill! Well done to all the team!
