The U17 Lads do the club proud

After a chastening but rewarding experience last year, Shefford & Sandy returned to Hoorn to play in the Under 17 Boys competition against teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand & Australia x2. Playing a brand of Hockey that mixed positive physicality with flair they won all of their round robin fixtures over the first two days to finish top of the league table, scoring 31 goals and conceding only one.

S & S 3 Westlake Boys School (NZ) 0 - Liam Stevens x 3
S & S 4 Roslagen (Swe) 0 - Liam Stevens x 2, Elliot Jones x 2
S & S 3 KMHTC (Bel) 0 - Elliot Jones, Lewis Bridger, Joe Purslow
S & S 3 WFHC (NL) 1 - Joe Purslow x 2, Lewis Bridger
S & S 2 SV Blanksee (Ger) 0 - Lewis Bridger, Liam Stevens
S & S 10 Trinity Grammar 0 (Aus) - Liam Stevens x 4, Ryan Devlin, Lewis Bridger, Joe Purslow, James Morris, Ed De Luca, Bretton Woodhouse
S & S 6 Melbourne Grammar 0 (Aus) - Liam Stevens x 2, Joe Purslow, Elliot Jones, Ethan Pennington, Ed De Luca

In the final S & S came up again against the hosts and tournament favourites WFHC, who had finished second in the group and up until playing S & S in the round robin competition had during their league season won every single game they had played.

The final was a tense affair between to very evenly matched sides. WFHC took the lead in the first half somewhat against the run of play, S & S though came back just before half time with a goal from James Morris.

Keeper James Steer earned his spurs with a couple of good saves, before the free scoring Liam Stevens produced a fantastic solo goal, ghosting through the WFHC defense and lifting the ball over the keeper. WFHC then put S & S under some considerable pressure and equalized. The last few minutes were all S & S as they pressed for the winner, Stevens & Lewis Bridger both having chances to seal the game. S & S thought they had won the game in the dying seconds though, skipper Jack Chiswell producing a drag flick that looked to be going into the top right hand corner of the net, only for the keeper and defender on the line to brilliantly combine to double deflect the ball just past the post.

2-2 at full time and a golden goal situation. S & S started well, but it was WFHC that scored the winner from a hotly disputed Penalty corner finish. It was a shame that the final was decided in such a manner, as the game itself in front of a large crowd was a marvelous advert for competitive Hockey, with both sides doing their clubs proud.

Congratulations must go to WFHC for hosting a wonderful tournament, which included four pitches two of which were high quality water bases. S & S came away proud of their achievement, as it was a great team performance and with a nice trophy also for their efforts. In addition Liam Stevens was voted by the Coaches of the other teams as the Under 17s player of the tournament. A thoroughly deserved accolade, having scored 13 goals & lighting up the tournament with some sublime stick work.

Squad - James Steer, Jack Chiswell (Capt), Matt Radley, Matt Stevenson, Angus Monaghan, Jeneay Van Hamersveld, Ed De Luca, James Morris, Lewis Bridger (Vice Capt), Ethan Pennington, Bretton Woodhouse, Liam Stevens, Joe Purslow, Sebastiaan Van Den Oudenalder, Zach Christodoulou, Ryan Devlin, Elliot Jones
Head Coach - Doug Dawson