The U14 Girls are on their way to the National Outdoor Hockey Finals as they seek to add this year's crown to the U13 title they won last year.

Competing in the South finals at Wellington College on 9th February, the girls were faced with tough competition in the round-robin tournament, with matches against St George's College, Portsmouth Grammar School and Sir William Borlase.

The girls made the worst possible start, going down 2-4 to old rivals St George's College in a match that was always likely decide the outcome of the whole tournament. But having made life difficult for themselves, and knowing they could not afford to drop any more points, the girls showed great spirit in storming back to beat Portsmouth Grammar 2-1 in a tense and closely fought match to give themelves a fighting chance of the title.  They were still in the hunt and they seized the moment, throwing everything against Sir William Borlase and winning the ensuing goal bonanza 6-3.

The title proved to be beyond them after that first defeat, however, but their resilient fight-back meant they ended the day as runners-up, enough to secure them a place in the National Finals in March, when they are determined there will be no slip-ups!

Miss Bell, the girls' coach, was delighted with the outcome. 'The girls showed real character today,' she said, 'and I was very impressed by the way they picked themselves up after losing to St George's and took the game to the opposition. Now we're looking forward to March and the Nationals, and there's no reason these girls can't make it two national titles in a row.'