On Friday our U13 girls finished second in the country at the National Hockey Finals.
Having won the East Region title in October, the team arrived at Repton School Derbyshire as reigning National Champions having won the tournament in 2018 hosted at Millfield School.
The day proved to be an exceptionally successful one for this talented group of girls, who worked hard for each other all day and played some attractive hockey.
Framlingham didn’t concede a goal in their group beating Felsted Prep (Essex) (3-0), Cranleigh Prep (Surrey) (1-0), Abberley Hall (Worcestershire) (3-0) before drawing both of their final two group games 0-0 against St Andrew’s Eastbourne (Sussex) and Hazlegrove (Somerset).
This put the team top of the group and into the cup quarter-final against the top eight schools in the country. We were drawn against Ardingly College (Sussex) and a well taken finish from a short corner meant the girls won the game 1-0.
This set up a semi-final against Foremarke Hall-Repton (Derbyshire) a school like Framlingham, acknowledged as being one of the best hockey schools in the country.
The Framlingham girls really stepped up, dominating possession they scored midway through the game to win 1-0. The other team that had stormed through their group games and beaten everyone in their path was Dean Close, last year’s semi-finalists.
The game proved to be a wonderful exhibition of hockey and edged by Dean Close who were more clinical in front of goal, scoring both of their chances. The Framlingham College Prep team should be incredibly proud of having reached the National Finals once more and to be ranked the second best team in Britain.
Framlingham College’s growing reputation as one of the best hockey playing schools in the country has never been more evident.
