Ladies' 1s brilliantly beating Birmingham University

On Saturday the 22^nd February Hawks ladies 1’s faced a strong Birmingham University side. The rain finally stopped, and the pitches were watered for what would be a very exciting and intense 70 minutes of hockey. During the first quarter our ladies started very strongly bringing the game to Birmingham for an early goal from Claire Werlinger.  From here the opposition managed to hold off any more goals, despite several well-earned short corners, leaving the score at 1-0 to Hawks at the end of the first quarter. After a quick team talk Hawks were ready to recommence the battle, there was some lovely play from the likes of Henri and Hannah, which set up goal scoring opportunities only to be thwarted by a fierce Birmingham defence. However, Caro or Bex (can’t remember!) sent a very well placed and paced ball to Claire who was waiting in the perfect position for a beautiful deflection to the back post to bring the score line to 2-0 to Hawks.

Half time saw some good discussion, and as such, the Hawks team went back onto the pitch feeling confident for the next half. Unfortunately, the Birmingham side had picked up their intensity and played the ball well, this lead to a series of poor decisions from the Hawks side ending in a goal for the opposition, leaving the score at the end of the third quarter at 2-1. Hawks battled out the last quarter holding tightly onto their one goal lead, and with some excellent saves from Millie, Hawks won a very well-played game with a score of 2-1. The player of the match for Hawks was Claire who scored the two goals of the game.

Match report by Frankie Brown. Thanks to Clive for the great photos!