UNDER 12’S GIRLS SUFFOLK YOUTH LEAGUE (SYL) THIRD ROUND – SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER 2017

The third and final round of the SYL took place at Felixstowe, where the weather conditions were far more pleasant and bearable than the previous round at Sudbury.

Pool A
BSE 1 2 – 0 BSE 2
IES 1 3 – 0 BSE 2
BSE 1 5 – 0 Felixstowe 1
Sudbury 1 1 – 0 BSE 2

At the start of the final round BSE1 topped the group by a point to IES1 and BSE2 sat in third place.
BSE1 saw Katie Slark-Hollis return to the team and Olivia Whyte join for the first time. Whilst BSE2 saw Millie Hansgate progress from the third team.

The first match saw BSE1 and BSE2 battle it out together. Yet again friendships and allegiances were firmly left at the side of the pitch and battle commenced. Unfortunately for BSE2, BSE1 were the stronger of the two sides. This resulted in some good attacking and defensive play from BSE1. Olivia Hyndman and Isabel Trollope were particularly strong in defence, and the whole the team worked well together setting up Katie Randall to score 2 goals in quick succession. The only real shot at goal from BSE2 was through Arabella Stockdale, however, it was quickly cleared away by Kerry Woods in goal. At the other end of the pitch Abi Bushell defended well for BSE2, Katie Slark-Hollis narrowly missed a shot on goal and Josie Gooderham missed the chance to score through the superb goalkeeping skills of Bex Meekings.

The second match for BSE2 was against IES1. BSE started the match strongly, however, the strength of IES began to overmatch BSE. Unfortunately, BSE left too many gaps in defence and played too far up the pitch. Despite the efforts of Bex Meekings to try and organise her defence, she was often left exposed and vulnerable to attack. IES capitalised on these opportunities and quickly scored 3 successive goals.
The second and final match for BSE1 was against Felixstowe 1. BSE were strong throughout and played some fantastic hockey, utilising their experience and skills to good effect. Helena Page-Blair and Heidi Thornton were particularly successful in taking the ball off the other team. The whole team were extremely effective in playing the ball down the sides and feeding the ball into the D. This resulted in 2 opening goals from Georgia Wishlade and a hat trick from Olivia Whyte.

The third and final match for BSE2 was against Sudbury 1. BSE played well. Millie Hansgate was particularly effective in mid at both ends of the pitch, defending well when required. Ella Sherfield exhibited some great skill as well as Matilda Grant, Olivia Barber and Annabel Ball. BSE should have scored a fantastic goal, however, unfortunately it was disallowed as it was taken from just outside the D. Despite battling hard Sudbury managed to score in the closing seconds.

At the end of the final round, BSE1 came second with 19 points (IES1 won all three of their third-round matches and finished first with 21 points) and BSE2 came third with 9 points.

Pool B
BSE 3 0 – 1 Felixstowe 2
BSE 3 0 – 5 IES 2
BSE 3 0 – 1 Ipswich 1

BSE3 saw Tilly Health join the team for the first time. The first match against Felixstowe 2 was incredibly tight. Both teams played well at both ends of the pitch, however, Felixstowe managed to find a gap in defence, scoring the only goal of the match. The second match was against IES2, unfortunately IES were too strong for BSE3 despite a valiant effort by the team. The third and final match against Ipswich 1 was also incredibly tight, but again the opposition managed to find a way through to score the one and only goal of the match. Ultimately it was another tough day for the team, where often the play did not necessarily reflect the score line. Tilly Heath, Izzy Winter and Lottie John all played well, as did Amy Bradford in Goal. Carmen Thornton, Anastasia Simmons and Jasmin Carne all improved massively from previous rounds. As did Alice Prentice, Addie Hafermann and Lilly Lee-Hall. Unfortunately for BSE3 they finished fourth in the group. However, there were many positive takeaways from which to build upon during the second half of the season.