October 18, 2017, by Kate Rothery
Team of the Week: Ladies Hockey 1st
By Cara McIsaac-Hall
Throughout the 2017-18 season, we’ll be profiling our Team of the Week, recognising a University of Nottingham Sport team who have achieved a stand-out result in this week’s fixture list.
First up are Ladies Hockey 1st who posted a resounding 4-1 home win against Loughborough 1st, last year’s Championship final runners up.
Ahead of the fixture on paper Loughborough looked to be the clear favourites; as well as reaching the national final last season, the local rivals from Leicestershire have placed higher than Nottingham in the three previous seasons. Indeed no player in the University of Nottingham squad had ever played and won against Loughborough 1st.
However, joining our 1st XI this year were nine new players all coming into their first year of study at Nottingham and with experienced players including England U21 Eloise Stenner returning, the squad were unfazed by any past history.
Playing on home ground on the University’s water-based pitch based alongside Nottingham Hockey Centre, the Green and Gold started out very strong, pressing the Loughborough players across the pitch. New player Paige Gillott in particular pushed their defence hard and within only 20 minutes of play UoN were 3-0 up much to the delight of those watching on the sidelines.
Loughborough came back fighting in the second half, with UoN goalkeeper Laura Daglish forced to make some amazing saves to hold onto the Nottingham lead. They then got a stroke of luck with a reverse stick hit going over Laura’s head to pull a goal back and make the score 1-3. Nottingham quickly regained their 3 goal lead with Eloise Stenner scoring a flawless flick from a penalty corner, leaving the final score 4-1 to Nottingham.
1st XI team captain Rebecca Hutson commented; “I’m really proud of how the side played together as a team, especially this early on in the year. The team are thrilled to win Team of the Week and we hope to keep impressing throughout the season!”
Next up they make the journey north to Durham, who sit just below them in the league with only one game played. Congratulations to everyone in the Ladies 1st XI; what an exciting start to the season!
………………………..
For more information on the latest #GreenandGold fixtures and results visit www.nottingham.ac.uk/sport/bucs.
No comments yet, fill out a comment to be the first
Leave a Reply