The Courier

The U11 A team played really well and showed great grit and determination on the ball.  It was end to end play, unfortunately we could not quite make our shots count.  Final score 5-1 to King Henry's with Grace getting a goal in the final quarter. 

The U11 B team, made up mostly of our Year 5 pupils, played a fantastic game, moving the ball effectively up court and attacking well.  They took an early lead with some fantastic shooting from Sophia and Toni.  The whole team worked well together making some fantastic linking passes from Nora in defence all the way to our shooting circle. Great play to see a 9-7 win. 

Well done to all involved. 

The U11 Hockey Team travelled down to the Olympic Park in London to play at the iconic Lee Valley Hockey Centre in the National ISA Hockey Tournament.  After an early start and a long and slow journey the team made it down to London just in time for a quick warm up and team talk.  Crescent started on the outside pitches with their sights firmly set on making the way up onto the stadium pitch after our pool rounds. 

The pool rounds were frantic, furious and frustrating with 10 minutes of play in each game pupils needed to settle quickly and get down to business.  The first match saw Crescent take on Alleyn Court, from Southend-on-Sea, the team were focused and worked hard, but the precision in the shooting was just off with several opportunities hitting the post or going just wide. After 90% of the possession it ended in a 0-0 draw.   

The second match was against a tall and strong Chafyn Grove School from Salisbury, they took an early goal but a quick counter attack from Crescent saw the equaliser with a goal from Alex G.  It was quality hockey with play moving quickly from end to end.  Unfortunately, in the final moments of play Chafyn Grove scored a second goal taking the win. 2-1 Loss. 

The third match was an evenly matched game against Cranford School from Oxfordshire.  Both sides battled hard with fantastic attacking and defending, however their efforts came to no fruition with a 0-0 draw. 

The results of the pool round put is in to the Trophy competition where we took on Thorpe Hall school in the knock out round.  Again we had all of the play working so hard, with two short corners awarded to Crescent.  The team applied the pressure but again just couldn't find the target.  The final whistle left a 0-0 draw and it was on to penalty shuffles to decide who went through to the finals. 

After the difficult decision of who should take the shuffles, Sofie stepped up first with a fantastic effort showing great speed, but the shot just went wide.  Timi was into goal to face his first ever shuffle, he did just as he was told and came out of goal making himself big and intimidating, he saved the first shot pushing their player wide to get the rebound and then fortunately for Crescent the whistle blew before they could score.  Matthew stepped up for Crescent's second shuffle with a very calm and composed approach making it count with a fantastic strike.  Timi stepped up again making another great save before Maxi took the final shuffle for Crescent.  Again a very collected and mature approach from Maxi saw him take in to the inside corner to score the winning goal.

Crescent were through to the final and had made it on to the Stadium pitch.  With emotions running high the team collected themselves well to take on Oakfield Prep in the Trophy Final.  Again holding possession well and really pushing and holding play in Crescent's attacking half Crescent scored with a few minutes to spare with a fantastically worked goal from Lewis. 

A fantastic day out for everyone, full of highs and lows and the extreme emotions of sport.  A truly well deserved final victory after a wonderful day of quality hockey from all involved. We are extremely proud of you all. 

Last week saw the U9s boys in action on the hockey pitch with matches against King Henry's VIII Preparatory on Tuesday and Bilton Grange on Thursday. 

U9A team played fantastically in both games, with solid passing and strength in the King Henry's game moving the ball well to win the match 2-1. Building on this victory in the Bilton Grange game the team had a very exciting game of end to end play, showing great progress throughout the game. With  strong defence and good shape, players holding their position they were unlucky to concede a goal in the final minute of play to loose 2-3. 

U9B team made excellent progress in the King Henry's game growing in knowledge and confidence throughout the match, having conceded 2 early goals they then gained most of the play in the final part of the match, but couldn't quite put the ball away.   They carried this progress forward into the Thursday's match holding their shape better and linking passes together well, showing great team work. Having led the play for most of the game, BG scored a goal in the final minutes against the run of play to level the game 2-2. 

Mrs Dowling Mrs McCollin Mrs Chang