U14 Girls Are Euro Hockey League Champions
By Colin Pike
Surbiton's Under-14 Girls were crowned Euro Hockey League champions after beating Belgian club Braxgata 1-0 in the final on Sunday.
Francesca Weal's 23rd minute open play goal was the decider in a well fought out final against a team which had lost narrowly when the teams met in Pool B on Saturday, Surbiton coming out on top 4-3 in a math which Braxgata came close to drawing after trailing 4-2.
Surbiton had started on Saturday with another 1-0 victory against Dutch club hdm, Tamsin Lyons, co-incidentally also scoring in the 23rd minute from open play.
The first clash with Braxgata was a see-saw match in the first half. Braxgata led twice through Loui De Ridder in the second and 14th minutes; Anjalie Rohan cancelling out the first goal in the seventh minute and Francesca Weal equalising just before half time.
Francesca then put Surbiton ahead for the first time at the start of the second half, Eva Franks-Martin adding an insurance goal in the 25th minute. Alix Bowman's scored Braxgata's third goal with two minutes to play but Surbiton held on to top the pool.
Surbiton faced Spanish club Campo de Madrid in the semi-final where a professional performance saw them reach the final. Phoebe Geoghegan opened the scoring in the ninth minute before two goals late in the second half, clinched the victory. Olivia Osbourne netted in the 33rd minute and two minutes later, Amelie Heal scored Surbiton's third goal, all three goals coming from penalty corners.
Surbiton's defence was also outstanding keeping clean sheets in three of the four games with only Braxgata scoring in Surbiton's second match.
Surbiton can be proud of their achievement and can now claim to be European champions.
More information about the Girls' competition can be found at the EHF Altius website here
In the Boys' competition, Old Georgians were unlucky to lose both their semi-final and bronze medal matches on a shootout. Old Georgians had beaten French club Nantes 4-0 and drawn 0-0 with eventual runners-up, Royal Racing Club Bruxelles.
In the semi-final, hdm were too good for Old Georgians, winning the shootout 4-3 after a 1-1 draw in normal time. Harvestehuder also prevailed 4-3 in a shootout to claim the bronze medals, this time after a 2-2 draw in the original 40 minutes.
hdm beat Royal Racing Club Bruxelles 3-2 in the final.
More information about the Boys' competition can be found at the EHF Altius website here