Sports Report 6 February 2018

6 February 2018

Last week saw some amazing results! Not only did Shiplake’s Senior Eights rowers take Head of the River at Wycliffe, but the 1st XI Hockey team defeated The Henley College with a fantastic 6-4 final score. After a few cancelled games saw the U15 football teams and Junior A & B Hockey teams, some stars may have been discovered where they weren’t expected…

Hockey

Juniors v LVS

Last Wednesday turned out to be another great day for hockey - clear and crisp. Licensed Victuallers' agreed to merge the Junior A & B teams as we had many drama students away at the Junior Production. The game started swiftly and the ball was played around the pitch by both teams. Shiplake struggled to find their rhythm, as the usual players were playing out of position. LVS scored some easy goals as the Shiplake defence settled into their new roles. This would cost us dearly.

Halftime saw us enter the team meeting at 0-5. A stern talk from Mr Curtis saw our boys start the half with purpose and a plan. The boys’ full press held strong and they were able to play it out the back and through the right a number of times. Harry Watts, Jai Angell, Jack Lynskey and George Lucas were able to put some great plays together but unfortunately our finishing in the attacking D let us down. Full time saw the score remained at 0-5.

Juniors v Radley College

On a bitterly cold afternoon, the combined forces of the U15s and U14s came together to take on Radley for their second game in consecutive days. The first half was evenly contested with both sides creating some decent scoring opportunities. However, a lack of composure in front of goal from both sets of attackers left the game at 0-0 just after the 20-minute mark. An accidental ricochet straight into one of the Radley attackers face led to a long delay and an early half time was called.

The second half was all Radley. Shiplake were digging deep into their reserves throughout the second period and as the opposition controlled possession the juniors from Shiplake tired even more. As tiredness set in Shiplake sat deeper and deeper in their half, leaving Radley time and space on the ball and they took full advantage; picking off 5 goals in a one-way period of play. Lots to work on for the Shiplake boys in particular a higher work rate and more importantly a greater pass conversion percentage. Final score 5-0 to Radley College.

Netball

U18A v Reading Blue Coat School

Last Wednesday, Shiplake’s A team played their third league game of the season against Blue Coat. Owing to their performance in their previous match, they were very nervous about the game and confidence levels were low. They had a full team with two subs, Darcy Timms and Jem Evans in the first quarter. The play was very even between both teams but Blue Coat scored the first goal of the match. Impressive shots came from Lydia, who was incredibly accurate every time, even from the very edge of the D. Charley in Goal really carried the team with her excellent defending and pushing the ball up court.

The play was very quiet with our girls feeling very nervous for the game. During the second quarter, Weazy injured her finger and was taken off for the rest of the game. This meant a lot of switching around for the team and trying new positions. Instantly, Shiplake livened up in the excitement of try something new. Tory was placed in goal attack, Liv in centre and Jem in wing attack. Tory and Lydia worked together amazingly, considering they had only played together for 5 minutes.

Shiplake’s game play improved greatly as they scored one goal after the other. After a lot of confusion with the scoring, we narrowly lost 36-31. Well done to all the girls that played, especially Charley for getting player of the match.

Report provided by Captain Jem Evans

U18B Vs Holyport

Starting their fourth league game against Holyport College, the girls were all warmed up and ready to get straight into the match. As they began the first quarter, it was evident to see that Shiplake were up against a slightly slower paced team to what they were used to, so the girls were not playing as strongly as they have done before. Great attacking and defending from all players up and down the court led Shiplake to score one goal after another. After the first quarter, the scores were very close which meant that Shiplake were keen to pick up the level of their game play to ensure that they were ahead of Holyport.

Minutes into the second quarter, it became evident that the quick team talk payed off and our game play returned to their previously recognised high standards. Superb shooting from Daisy Stuart and Megan Tooley allowed Shiplake to get the score up. With Georgia and Hannah SG defending the ball, they were able to intercept the ball from Holyport and got it back down to the Shiplake end.

Despite Holyport’s lack of focus, our girls didn’t allow their game play to be affected and they continued to concentrate on the game until the very end. With seconds remaining in the last quarter, Shiplake managed to score another four goals, which left the final score at 27-8 to Shiplake. Another well-deserved win from the girls and they hope to keep succeeding in their future matches. Player of the match goes to Georgia May-Frye.

Report provided by Captain Emma Renwick

U18C v Reddam House

The C team set off, missing vital members of the team and without a clue what to expect. The girls immediately began to regain confidence after a pep talk from our coach. Heading into the match somewhat more positively, the girls set up quickly, driving in and calling for the ball consistently. It soon became clear that their centre and wing attack were forces to be reckoned with; Shiplake immediately upped their game to meet Reddam’s quick dodges. There was some amazing teamwork between Sadie and Ella Roullier, supporting each other in the goal third and around the D.

Come halftime, the girls realised that they needed to space out more, they were giving the easy balls away to the opposition goalkeeper. Having adjusted this, the team began the third quarter amazingly well. Anna worked hard to support those in the centre third from her position in goal. Towards Shiplake’s attacking end, Eve, Ella D’Souza and Sophia pushed themselves to maintain the ball against the goalkeeper, a staggering 6’ 4” tall! Sophia began to move around her, nipping the ball quickly before setting up to score. By the end of the match, the girls knew they had fought hard, but unfortunately suffered a loss against Reddam House. Our girls came away elated as they knew they had worked hard against them. Player of the match went to Mimi and was well deserved because of her commitment to the game.

Report provided by Jade Miller

Football

2nd XI v Abingdon School

The 2nd XI suffered their first defeat of the season away at Abingdon on Saturday 3rd February. After a shaky start to the game and conceding from a corner, the team settled and started to pass the ball with great accuracy and pace. Ben Westbrook-Burr and Will Richards played several delightful passes on the ground and over the top into the forwards, which on another day would have led to goals. Debutant Morgan Taylor, pulled us level and captain, Ben Westbrook-Burr, scored directly from a free kick. The missed chances would come back to haunt us as on the stroke of half time Abingdon levelled to make the score 2-2 at the break.

Shiplake never picked up the same level of play in the second half as they did in the first half and as the team tired, Abingdon grew in confidence and took the lead. In the search for an equaliser, the game became very open and chances came and went for both teams. Abingdon wrapped the game up with a penalty kick to make the final score 4-2. It was a very enjoyable spectacle and we look forward to replicating the first half performance for the entire match against Gordon School this Wednesday.

U15 A&B vs Leighton Park

Shiplake got off to a slow start against the visiting side, letting in two goals within 20 minute, Max Way then struck back to make the score 2-1. Shiplake conceded another goal, trailing 3-1 going into the next half.

With a few words of inspiration from the coaches Shiplake went into the second half hungry for a win and goals, two early goals from Will Symons tied the game up at 3-3 and Shiplake found the edge they'd been looking for. With their heads held high, Shiplake scored three more, coming from Kai O'Hare, Luke Theodorou and an own goal.

The game finished 6-4 to Shiplake with lots to look forward to going into the next game

Match report by Matt Healy and Archie Mcarthur

U15B vs Abingdon Cs

Abingdon started the game by playing the ball through their midfielders but it didn’t take long for Shiplake to gain dominance of the ball and to start using the wings to great effect. A corner was awarded to Shiplake and the ball was put into the box after plenty of saves, Ed Shouksmith tapped it in. Then Jake Wiggins had a crack from outside the box that flew into the top corner. Ben Yeoman decided to try as well and scored an equally good long-range goal which made the score 3-0.

The game went on and on the first touch Abingdon got in the second half, one of the Abingdon Cs took a shot to pull the score back. After that, he did it again to make the score 3-2. The game ended at 7-4 to Shiplake. Matt Healy was incredible at the back, stopping every ball that came towards him. Monty Greenaway and Hugo Rex also had very good games. Shiplake 15Bs are still undefeated this season.

Report provided by Harry Allen

Rowing

Wycliffe Head

On Saturday, the Boat Club went to Wycliffe Big Head and boated 6 eights. This event was well attended by crews from Radley, Shrewsbury and Abingdon School making for some good competition. All schools are still in the process of training and working out which rowers will be making up their A and B crews, so we can never be too sure what everyone will have up their sleeves when the 1st VIIIs come out. This is a great opportunity for everyone to try combinations and let the rowers enjoy some good racing to break up the monotony of winter training. The squads raced two matched J15 eights in the morning division along with a J16 eight and three senior eights. In the afternoon division, just a Senior eight and a J16 eight raced for the second time that day.

The results were pleasing across the club with one of our Senior eight’s winning the first and second division outright, therefore becoming Head of the River. The J16 eight took the win in J16 eights in the afternoon division.

The J15’s put in a good showing in their matched eights finishing in the middle of the pack, now all coaches will be turning their mind to selection and focusing on the School Head of the River (12th March) after half term.

We also had several girls crew competing at Hampton Head on Saturday. Molly Sharmann and Liv Morgan finished 2nd in Women’s J18 pairs and Emily Batchelor and Iona Wasdell finished 24th in Women’s J18 double scull.