The U16 Girls made a solid start to the new season in their England Hockey Cup Competition campaign against Sudbury Hockey Club.

Captained by Katie, with Liv a stalwart in central defence and Lilia in the middle the team pressurised Sudbury from the start. Up front Nellie, Evie and Verity drove hard into the D, with Alice and Arabella hitting the posts, creating numerous short corner opportunities and goals. Debut players such as Phoebe, Eloise and Caris slotted comfortably into the team creating some good play following their U14s success on Friday.

The first goal came from Alice in the 12th minute, followed shortly by Verity in the 19th minute and Nellie in the 24th minute. There were a lot of missed chances with the Sudbury keeper, Boo Plant, making some heroic saves. Sudbury had a few opportunities on goal which were ably thwarted by Liv, Katie, Kate, Emma, and Hannah in defence.

Heading into the second half the team were 3-0 up. Within 11 minutes of the second half Verity had completed her hat trick with 2 further cracking goals. Sudbury began to fight back, however, with Bethany in goal Bury were able to keep a clean sheet. With some excellent up front play Alice managed to double her tally at the post in the 52nd minute following a rebound from Arabella. Bury held their ground in the final minutes despite a flurry of attacks and shorts from Sudbury. The final whistle blew with the score 6-0 to Bury.

We look forward to round 2 later this month.