English junior girls start their campaign with victory over Spain by 3-1
The English Under-18 Girls’ defeated their Spanish counter-parts by 3-1 in their opening match of the Volvo Euro Hockey Youth Nations Championships, which was played in Utrecht, Netherlands, on July 12.
Martin Rodgers looked very pleased with the performance of his young athletes in the match which they comprehensively won.
England took an early lead in the 11th minute of the first half, when Sophie Crosley opened the English account by a wonderful field goal. In the remaining part of the first half, no further goal was scored and the English team went to the half time leading
by 1-0.
In the second half, the Spanish girls scored the equaliser in the 40th minute. Julia Ponsgenesca made the equaliser on a penalty-corner, but just four minutes after, Sophie Crosley once again put England ahead of Spain by scoring her second goal
of the match on a penalty-corner. Faye Curran made the last strike for the English girls in the 55th minute, also on a penalty-corner that lasted until the end.
“We’re obviously delighted to get our competition off to a positive start against a tricky Spanish team. Historically, there hasn’t been much between the teams, and that proved the same today. I felt more than anything our team unity saw us through in the
end.” Martin Rodgers, the head coach of the English junior Girls’ side, stated after the match.
Meanwhile, the English junior Boys’ team could only manage to draw their opening encounter against France at the score of 1-1.
“It was a good performance up to the final third of the pitch, and these young boys need to pay attention to the detail of circle entry and this was the one area we fell down on today as the quality wasn’t high enough.” Craig Keegan, the head coach of the
English junior Boys’ team, commented after the match. He also stated that now they will be facing even greater challenge to qualify for the semi-final due the draw game against France.
The match was played in a tight mode as both teams made a solitary strike in the entire match. Both the goals were scored in the first eight minutes of the match and after that the entire match remained goal-less. France took the early lead just two minutes
into the first half when Thibaud De Brosses opened the French account on a penalty-corner, but their lead lasted only for six minutes, when the English juniors scored the equaliser in the 8th minute, a beautiful field goal by Sam French that lasted
until the end.
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