By Esther Stewart, 6.2 and Girls’ First XI Captain

Last Wednesday the girls’ first XI had an early 7am meet to travel to Abingdon for the South Central Regional Hockey Tournament.

With one sub, new short corner tactics and a star addition to the team, we warmed up for our first game against Tudor Hall. We dominated most of the play but found ourselves two nil down at half time. However, a positive half-time team talk and a real focus for the second half we bounced back well. Sammy Smith providing the first moment of inspiration as inside forward carrying the ball into the D and winning a short corner, which followed an exceptional short corner drag flick from Alisia Leach followed by a deflection by Mathilda Douglas, put us back in the game. The opposition managed to get past the halfway line on a few occasions but being 2-1 down we stayed strong and energy levels were high. We finished the game with an exceptional team goal from Rosy Riley. Final score: 2-2.
 
Our second match against St Mary’s Ascot brought out our competitive side with some short corner battles. This was a tough game, with both sides evenly matched but thanks to our halves, Sasha Arney, Rebekah Leach and Gala Pearson, keeping the pace up and quick turn arounds we stayed strong and ranked up the intensity. St Mary’s managed to get six shorts in a row but the strong defence of Shanklin-Mackillop Hall, Esther Stewart and great saves from Mathilda Gellatly kept the opposition from scoring. The second half saw us fight back, winning multiple shorts but the whistle blew leaving another close draw of 0-0. Nevertheless, we were through to the semi-finals!
 
In the semi-final, Oxford High gave us a good run for our money, scoring a goal off a short. However, with strong forwards, we stayed positive and Alisia Leach’s famous drag flick secured us a goal in the first half. A few goal attempts – including Leela Walton’s powerful strike in the second half – kept emotions running high. Unfortunately, Oxford High just managed to get their second goal, sending them to the final, but we kept our spirits up and had no regrets, knowing we had played the better than ever.  
 
Congratulations to everyone for being part of the only Bedales team in history to make it to the regional semi-finals!