On a chilly but dry Friday 15th November the girls 1st VII Squad played in the National IAPS Tournament for the fourth year running. With a team full of confidence having won every game of the term so far the team went into the tournament with high expectations of what they could achieve.

The draw had not been kind to us and saw us face Dean Close (who had a very similar record to us throughout the term) and two very good sides in Oratory Prep and Danes Hill.In our first game against The Downs, Bristol. We dominated from the start but sadly we could not get the ball past a stubborn Downs defence and goal-kepper and in the end had to be happy with a point in a 0-0 draw.Second up we faced Dean Close and the girls really raised their game for this one and played really well. We went 1-0 down and then fought our way back with Aggie F. scoring a well worked team goal. With time running out Dean Close won a Short Corner and a well placed strike past Teddy F. in goal secured all three points for our opposition.

The girls did not let the result get them down as they knew they had played well and in an end to end game drew 1-1 against a skillful Oratory Prep side with Skye K. scoring a goal in the last minute.

We probably played our best against Danes Hill and in a game that we dominated an instinctive finish from Aggie F. meant that we secured our first win of the day. Going into our last group game we knew that a big win and results going our way in another game might get us into the cup competition.

Despite playing well we were not at our best in front of goal and another 0-0 draw meant that we went into the Plate competition (places 9-16 in the Nationals).

Our performances throughout the knock-out matches were outstanding and we started with a 1-0 win over Langley, captain Sasha W. with the goals before a comprehensive 2-0 win over Haselgrove in the semi-final, Holly B. an a super individual goal from Gwen G.

The plate final was against Danes Hill and with our win against them knocking them out of the cup competition we knew they would be up for a tough game. We dominated the twelve minutes, played some fantastic hockey but the ball would just not run for us in the 'D' and with time running out a quick break away and goal from Danes Hill meant that Winchester House had to be happy with Plate silver medals and 10th in the country. Although not the medal we went for, the girls can be super proud of their efforts and also how well they play hockey. Sport is full of tight margins and Dean Close went on to win the tournament and we scored the only goal past Dean Close in the Regional and National tournaments.

Following the tournament full colours were awarded to; Skye K, Gwen G. and Teddy F for their exceptional talents on the pitch over their two years of playing for the 1st VII Hockey Team at Winchester House School.

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