W1 Home To University of Nottingham On Saturday
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Women continue their Women's Hockey League Finals Pool A campaign on Saturday when they welcome the University of Nottingham to Sugden Road (push back 1600).
The game will be streamed via the Surbiton Hockey Club channel on You Tube: Live videos list is here
Surbiton and Hampstead can both book their places in the semi-finals with a game to spare if Surbiton win and Hampstead beat Clifton Robinsons on Saturday.
The University of Nottingham have struggled in recent weeks, having lost 6-1 at Sugden Road on 24 February before losing 6-0 at Reading, 7-2 at home to East Grinstead in the Premier Division and 9-3 at Hampstead & Westminster in their opening League Finals Pool A match.
This will be the fourth time that Surbiton have faced the University of Nottingham and Surbiton have won all three previous meetings: 4-0 at home in 2022-23 and 5-0 away before the 6-1 defeat last month.
Surbiton's Leah Wilkinson scored in all three matches and will want to keep her personal run going as well as helping Surbiton moving forward and preparing for European competition at Easter.
The University of Nottingham finished fifth at the end of the Premier Division regular season, but have lost their last five matches, all against teams which finished in the top four.
Jordan Homann and Maddie Axford are joint top scorers for the East Midlands students with eight goals apiece; Maddie Long, Holly Nixon and Julie Read have each found the net on three occasions; Sienna Dunn, Maddie Stewart and Claudia Swain have scored twice with Jodie Collins and Eliza Wheeler both scoring once.
However, Surbiton will not be complacent, having bounced back from their 6-3 home defeat to Reading by beating Clifton Robinsons 4-1 for the second time this season at Sugden Road in their first League Finals Pool A match.
Hannah French scored a brace to take her season tally to 12, one goal behind overall league top scorers Tess Howard of East Grinstead and Hampstead & Westminster's Madi Ratcliffe. Amy Costello and Alice Sharp were also on target to give Surbiton the perfect start after they fell behind early for the second successive match.
In Pool B, Reading and East Grinstead can also qualify for the semi-finals if they beat Bowdon and Wimbledon respectively at home on Saturday.
Beeston will be relegated on Saturday if they fail to win at the University of Birmingham. Even if they do win, their fate would be sealed if Loughborough Students beat already relegated Isca & University of Exeter.