Today's Sports Report features all the latest from football, hockey, netball and rowing. In football, there were fixtures against Radley College and Thorpe House, our boys' U15 hockey side took on The Windsor Boys' School, our girls scored 57 goals across their netball matches, and our girls' VIII put in a fine performance at the Women's Eights Head of the River.
Boys’ 1st XI vs Radley College
Shiplake College 1-3 Radley College. Shiplake started the stronger team and H Doyle scored a great goal into the top left corner from outside the box. Five minutes later, Radley scored a superb goal into the top corner from range and moments later snuck in a goal from a free kick that wasn't cleared. 1-2 at half time against the run of play.
The second half was a different story with Radley dominating the attack and scoring another shortly after the restart. Some super goalkeeping on our side kept the scoreline as it was, but a lesson learned that football can be a game of two halves.
Player of the Match: H Palmer-Garrett
Coaches: Mr B Claridge and Mr A Gingell
Boys’ 2nd XI vs Radley College
Shiplake College 1-7 Radley College. A very tough day in the office for the 2nds who struggled to compete with Radley's physical and spirited display. Despite the scoreline, O Smaje put in a fine debut performance between the sticks. J Rogers, D Henson and M Frost battled hard for the team, but Player of the Match went to P White who never gave up the fight and also scored a brilliant goal from 35 yards.
Coaches: Mr K Heaney and Mr E Olhausen
Boys’ 3rd XI (Triangular vs Radley College 3rd and 4th XI)
A triangular game vs Radley's 3rd and 4th XI saw a flurry of goals and mixing of both teams. L Swinburn-Johnson with the goal for Shiplake's 3rd XI.
Coach: Mr J Wheeler
Boys’ U16A vs Radley College
Radley College 4-1 Shiplake College. A fiercely competitive game with a depleted squad who battled really well throughout. W Rider was a rock at the back and J Lucking made countless saves, including a superb penalty block after some Emiliano Martinez-esque antics beforehand. L Spence was a constant menace, scoring a penalty, and also had another sublime finish dubiously chalked off for offside. Really proud of all of you!
Players of the Match: W Rider and J Lucking
Coach: Mr J Player and Mr J Cooper
Boys’ U16B vs Radley College
A tough fixture for the U16Bs. A really positive start and a solid defensive performance from J Coe kept the score at 2-0 to Radley. The second half did not go our way with a missed penalty and a missed close range free kick. However, goal on the season from G Prosser and an amazing assist from V Clifford. Proud of all the team and the U15 players for playing up a year. Final score was Shiplake College 1-4 Radley College
Player of the Match: J Coe
Coach: Mr C Ellison
Boys’ U15A vs Radley College
The U15As performed far better than what the scoreline tells us. Although we were a goal down at half-time, an equaliser seemed imminent due to some great pressure being put on Radley. H Arnold continued to make some fantastic saves however, unfortunately, a free kick given outside the box was impossible to stop which made the score 2-0. In the last 10 minutes, Shiplake did have a chance of redemption with a free kick given and if VAR was available, I think C Nash-Steer's hit off the top bar and bounced over the line which would have counted as a goal.
Player of the Match: H Arnold
Coach: Mr D Miller
Boys’ U15B vs Radley College
Final score: Shiplake College 0-0 Radley College
Coaches: Mr J Burgess and Miss Lane
Boys’ U13A vs Thorpe House
Final score: Shiplake College 1-1 Thorpe House
Coach: Mr A Dix
Boys’ U13B vs Thorpe House
On Wednesday 1 March, the Shiplake U13B team had a fixture against Thorpe House School. The visitors kicked off the game and quickly lost possession due to the high press of the Shiplake side. After Shiplake’s relentless attacks, we finally worked the ball around the box before A Ball cut inside and scored, giving us our first goal of the match. Half-time: 1-0.
Seconds into the second half, we gave away a controversial penalty - only for the heroics of J Martin did we remain 1-0 up. After this, we kept up our efforts from the first half and soon scored another goal - R Stewart scored a volley to put us 2-0 up. We kept the ball well and regained it quickly after we lost possession and ended up winning a corner late on. R Stewart whipped it in for an unmarked F Padrick who put it in the back of the net to give us a 3-0 lead. Eventually, the final whistle came and Shiplake came out with a 3-0 win and a clean sheet.
Players of the Match: A Ball and R Stewart
Coach: Mr R Guillaud
Boys’ U12A vs Thorpe House
A tough game for the U12As against a well organised Thorpe House School resulted in a 6-1 loss. However, the score does not really represent the full picture as frustratingly, Thorpe House had two players that stood well above everyone else and they scored all the goals for their side but only played the first half.
In the second half, we won 1-0 and showed the progression and form that we had made as a team growing in confidence. While lessons could be learnt from the two players already mentioned, effort and enthusiasm could not be faulted. Our defence was heroic especially in the first half and T Steward scored a wonderfully well taken goal.
Player of the Match: O Houldsworth
Coach: Mr T Crisford
U12B vs Thorpe House
On Wednesday 1 March, the Shiplake U12B team played against their Thorpe House School counterparts. Shiplake had complete control of the ball soon after kick off and within the first five minutes of the match, O Gilbart-Smith scored the first goal of the match with a finish in the top left corner of the goal. Eight minutes later, W Webb scored the second goal to the bottom-right side netting. M Lewis saved an incredible shot from a deflection from a corner before S Vedhara crossed the ball to L Baux, who flicked it over the opposition’s head and volleyed the ball into the top corner.
Another corner was given to Thorpe House leading to another magnificent save by M Lewis. Soon after, O Gilbart-Smith scored his second goal of the match, putting our team 4-0 ahead at half time.
At the start of the second half, Thorpe House dribbled through our defence and scored a goal. S Vedhara added another assist to his tally by feeding to L Baux who scored the fifth goal. Three more goals from O Gilbart-Smith, which completed his hat-trick, L Baux, and W Webb completed the scoring, leaving the final score 7-1 to Shiplake!
Coach: Mr N Brown
Hockey
Boys’ U15 vs The Windsor Boys’ School
The U15 team played The Windsor Boys for their 3rd match of the season. After a disappointing draw last week, where we did not play well as a team, the focus was on putting passes together and keeping possession for longer periods of time. We did this in spells, and it led to our attacking players getting the ball in more advanced positions. This led to four unanswered goals in the first 45 minutes from E Dickinson, B Demery, Z McConkey and H Arnold. F Partridge played an excellent game in goal and kept Windsor out several times during periods of the game where we were under pressure and he was backed up by great tackling by M Shevlane. After moving 4-0 up we had a slip in composure which led to Windsor counter attacking and getting two goals back, but time ran out and the Shiplake team hung on to a good win.
Coach: Mr D Bradley
Netball
Girls’ U18A vs Salesian College
Showing up to Wednesday’s match with some exhausted Year 13s due to mocks, Shiplake began warming up in some drizzly weather which worried the girls about the match ahead. Mrs Lovelock reassured the girls about the rain, and all players prayed for it to hold off for an hour! Thankfully, when Salesian arrived, the rain was gone and the girls were ready to get going.
Shiplake started the first quarter and lead with a few goals due to A Botterill's on point shooting style which led to her being awarded Player of the Match. Shiplake continued through with their heads up as they felt motivated after the first two quarters. A switch in positions and a reshuffle on the defensive side of the court had G Weedon come into play as goal shooter – she stepped up to the plate and was shooting very well which the whole team supported making her joint Players’ Player with E Browne. E Browne achieved Players’ Player because of her aggressive nature and thoughtful calls on how Shiplake played in the attacking end.
E Browne also went into goal defence in the last two quarters, allowing T Firth to return to centre position which she played well in. Shiplake ended the match with a 31-18 win, which was an outstanding win and all the girls are so pleased with this. Well done Shiplake!
Report: S Di Cuffa, A Team Netball Captain
Coach: Mrs C Lovelock
Girls’ U18B vs LVS Ascot
On Wednesday 1 March, Shiplake’s B team played against LVS Ascot’s A team. It was clear that Shiplake had been working on their communication and accuracy when passing the ball to one another – this was shown as they won the match with a score of 12-9.
Shiplake ended the first quarter in the lead, however LVS managed to make it a tie by half-time. Shiplake kept calm and managed to pull ahead once again, maintaining the lead for the next two quarters. The LVS attackers were strong, however Shiplake’s defence managed to intercept many of their passes. As well as this, the Shiplake attackers managed to outrun the LVS defence and not let the ball turn over to them.
The 12 goals Shiplake scored were scored by S Reid, C Baxter and R Pendlebury. Player of the Match was awarded to R Pendlebury who played goal attack. Coach's Player was given to A Timms who played in wing attack instead of her usual position. Finally, Players’ Player was awarded to the B team’s new addition, C Baxter, who worked well with the rest of the team and scored many incredible goals. The team should be extremely happy with this result and should look forward to maintaining these skills throughout the season.
Report: R Pendlebury, Stand-in Netball B Team Captain
Coach: Miss A James
Girls’ U18C vs The Oratory School
On Wednesday 1 March, the C team played against the Oratory School. We were excited for our first match after the half-term break having not playing any matches for the past two weeks. However, this didn’t affect our gameplay as we started strongly, scoring four goals in the first quarter with S Hodges making strong passes into the D to J Pallett who, by the end of the match, scored 13 of our goals.
We also had a very strong defence throughout the game with R Acton and G Wyndham-Smith both making brilliant interceptions. E Morris scored her first goal as goal attack in the third quarter and made excellent passes throughout the game into the D, this led to her being awarded Players’ Player. The final score was 14-27 to Oratory, however this is a strong start for the team after half-term. It is also the most goals we have scored in one match. S Hodges received Player of the Match for her excellent passes throughout the game.
Report: J Pallett, Stand-in Netball C Team Captain
Coach: Mrs K Neill
Rowing
On Saturday 4 March, the girls squad boated a 1st VIII at the Women's Eights Head of the River. 300 crews competed on the same course that the Schools' Head will race on next week. This event saw the best women's crews from across the country competing against each other with the 300 crews made up of international athletes, university crews, club crews and school crews - all racing a 7.5km course from Chiswick Bridge to Putney embankment.
Unfortunately for our girls, they had to wait for two hours on the water before racing due to having a very late starting number. However, this did not dampen their spirits and they kept their spirits high while waiting in the cold conditions for their time to race. Despite going off towards the end of the event, the girls managed to piece together a fantastic race, with expert coxing as well from M Walker. Their overall finish position was a fantastic 41st and they finished as the 5th fastest school crew of the day.
Well done to the following who raced: J Weir, A Merritt, G Catlin, E Over, S Foreman, E Downing, L Vahle and A Parker.
Report: Mr D Currie
Rugby 7s
Boys' U16s Worth School 7s
On Sunday 5 March, the Shiplake U16s 7s side headed to Worth School to compete in their penultimate tournament ahead of Rosslyn Park Sevens in a couple of weeks time. After their last tournament at Gordon’s School, this provided a great opportunity for the players to learn and better understand the game of Sevens. This tournament proposed a challenge of building on what we have been working on in training over the last couple of weeks.
The boys felt prepared and were excited by the challenges that they were going to face throughout the day. Shiplake’s group stage consisted of facing Wellington College, King’s College Canterbury and New Hall School, before placing into a knock-out round based on how they performed against these schools initially.
The first game for Shiplake came in the way of Wellington College, a game which Shiplake started well scoring the first try of the game to go 5-0 up. After this, Wellington began to grow into the game and after a couple of errors, the team came out of this game losing 21-5. Despite this loss, the players took many positives from the game and carried it over to their next game against King’s College Canterbury. Again, Shiplake took an early lead in a close and competitive game. This game came down to the last play of the game where the score was 19-19 before a small mistake attacking the oppositions 22 metre line led to King’s College Canterbury having an easy run in to narrowly win 24-19. The final game of the group stage saw Shiplake face New Hall, a game where the boys were fired up after feeling as if they should have won the previous game. Shiplake started incredibly quickly, getting a couple of early tries and this continued to be the theme for this game - Shiplake attacking with great efficiency and coming out as eventual winners with a score of 38-5. A group stage which provided many positives and learning experiences the boys could carry into Rosslyn Park.
The boys then waited to see who they’d face in the semi-final of their knock-out stage. After 20 minutes of anticipation, it was announced that Shiplake would face Dulwich College. Shiplake were ready, despite feeling sore and were excited to be a part of some knock-out rugby. The game didn’t go as the boys would have wanted, but it provided to be another brilliant learning opportunity for the players. Shiplake ended the day in a positive frame of mind after producing some brilliant rugby sevens and they now will build towards Rosslyn Park Sevens in a couple of weeks time.
A big shout out to A Cheek, S Bailey, C Burnett, J McFarlane, W Rider, L Spence, B Stokes, O Morris, S Laing, L Cawdell and F Hawkes who did Shiplake Rugby very proud.
