It has been a strange season for the U14 Girls, one that has never really got started what with missing players and a lot of cancellations due to the weather. We have struggled in the top division at times, even being demoted at one point but we know there is so much more to this team. So, apart from Maddie Lindley who unfortunately couldn’t be with us due to family commitments, we had for the first time this season, the full squad out. Therefore, the aim of the day was to restore some pride, have lots of fun and may be, just may be, cause an upset on the way?
So Sheffield first up, they have beaten us all season and gave us a good thumping at the EH Cup earlier in the year. Down to action – it was an excellent match, end to end hockey with both teams giving it there all. Sheffield scored first but our girls weren’t giving up and kept the pressure up, we were getting close to scoring, eventually Eve being in the right place at the right time to sneak the ball over the line for our equaliser. It finished 1-1 which was a fair result but it could have gone either way and was hugely encouraging from Thirsk.
Wakefield next, again, they’ve had the better of us a few times this season but we knew we had the fire power to cause them problems. Another tense game where the girls were pressing hard and bar some great defending and keeping from Wakefield we’d have scored a couple of goals. However, try as we may we couldn’t get a goal. Wakefield having the same problem at our goal with Sophie on absolute fire in goal and the defence of Yas, Alexa and Daisy not letting anything through. And so it finished a 0-0 draw. Great job girls!
The last match was Doncaster who again beat us last time we played but we knew our girls were on fire today. Sure enough that was put into practice and within the first 10 minutes we were 3-0 up and we could have had a couple more. Doncaster have some great players though and they came back at us hard. Even with the defence and Sophie working hard, they managed to get 2 goals past us. End result 3-2 to Thirsk.
So it came down to the last match of the day and the season to decide who were going to be Yorkshire Champions – Sheffield v Wakefield – we knew, thanks to the amazing number crunching of our resident mathematician, Lucy, it was going to take a result against the odds to crown us champions. The game finished 1-1 and so we finished second in the Yorkshire League, only on goal difference!
This is a huge achievement by the girls considering the season, when it mattered most they all showed up and put in a fantastic performance and it bodes well for the upcoming Netherlands Tour and the Play Off Finals in May – #thesegirlscan

Team Photo:
Left to Right standing: Naomi Cooke, Daisy Auckland, Yasmin Marshall, Holly Pears, Alexa Waiter-Westgarth, Georgina Borchard (C), Holly Riddell.
Left to Right kneeling: Eve Pepper, Lucy Brereton, Minnie Pollock, Marnie Scatchard, Poppy Lawson