Sport
U18 East Indoor Hockey Champions 2007
The U16 and U18 Indoor Hockey Squads travelled to Colchester on the weekend of 1 and 2 December 2007 to compete in the East of England Indoor Hockey Championships. The U16 team competed on Saturday and won their opening game. They lost the next match to Chelmsford Hockey Club 3-0 but went on to beat Newport Free Grammar School 8-5 and Ipswich High school 3-2, after being 2-0 down at half time. Alysia W in goal played particularly well, making some superb saves. Three teams finished on equal points so the positions were decided on goal difference, in which the Q girls disappointingly missed out by only one goal. The team were extremely unlucky not to qualify as winners or runners up to reach the National Finals but they should never the less be extremely proud of their achievements.

The U18 Indoor Squad captained by Libby Sherriff, England U16 Captain, competed on Sunday and began with a battle against Canterbury Hockey Club. The game was end-to-end and finished 4-3 to Canterbury. The unlucky result made the Q girls determined to work even harder in their next few games. In the following game they met Chelmsford Hockey Club. This was an extremely close match and thanks to some great defending by Vicky T and Jenny B, Q took the upper hand and won 2-0. Harlston Magpies HC were next and although they won the U18 championship last year, they were no match for Q after Amy K, England U18, opened the scoring with a drag flick. Libby S continued to put several goals past the Magpies goalkeeper, as did Hannah W. The final score was 5-2 to Q. Queenswood were looking in a very strong position but had to make sure they didn’t miss out on qualifying because of goal difference. Saffron Walden County High School were the last opposition and Queenswood played some magnificent Indoor Hockey, putting 11 goals past them from both open play and penalty corners. This meant that Queenswood would finish as East Champions and qualify for the National Indoor Hockey Finals on 25, 26 and 27 January 2008 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, an event which is televised on Sky Sports.

Congratulations to all the U18 Indoor Squad, and particularly to Libby S who finished as top goalscorer of the tournament. We wish you all well in preparing for the National Finals in January.