Sports Report 3 March 2020

3 March 2020

In this week’s sports report, our 1st XI Hockey team enjoyed a 7s tournament at Lord Wandsworth, and there were some wins in football but also some losses. Our Netball girl,s on a high after the Malta tour, unfortunately couldn’t translate that into a win against visitors Ranelagh, but they carried on playing despite the hail storm!

Hockey

1st XI v Lord Wandsworth 7s

After a well needed break off the back of a brillant 6-2 win against our local rivals, we were ready to take on a new challenge. We had a 7s tournament coming up which is not usual for us compared to some other schools. So on Wednesday 26 February we travelled up to Lord Wandsworth College. After only one training session to practise and pull together tactics, we had to be ready.

There were six schools including us there, Lord Wandsworth, local rivals Pangbourne, Reeds School, Christ Hospital and Windsor Boys. We knew that this would be a tough test for us to improvise and adapt to the new challenge ahead, we had 15 minutes from when we got there to warm up and get ready. Sevens has different rules from the way it starts to different short corners. Each game is 13 minutes long and starts with the keeper kicking the ball for a shot on goal to try to get an early advantage.

Our first two games did not go to well but that was because we were still learning tactics and how best to play. Then in our third game we played Lord Wandsworth, arguably the best team at the tournament, and unfortunately their goalkeeper scored the kick at the beginning of the game which put us behind right from the off. We played a brilliant game, heavily dominating them in defence with some brilliant saves from M Bromell too to keep us in the game. We also created some brilliant chances which were very well saved by the opposition keeper. The game finished 1-0, with the keeper's goal at the start being the difference.

Our 4th game against local rivals Pangbourne was really physical. They took an early lead in the game with a goal which they caught at a time of tiredness. We then hit back with a brilliant counter goal where A Langeler ran through the whole team with a brilliant finish in the bottom right hand corner. Then they scored 3 more goals but we kept our heads up and D Deakin made a brilliant run dribbling round the keeper to tap the ball home. This made the game 4-3 and with a final push to try and get an equaliser they scored on the counter making the final score 5-3.

Our final game was against Windsor Boys which we were confident about because we knew what we were going to do. We scored within the first minute with a good tap in from I Beasley on the back post. Then they tried to pile on the pressure but with a solid defence we played impeccably and another team goal took us 2-0 up. We then played confidently to keep up our solid defence and to see out the game.

Overall we had a good day filled with positive and negatives, we had to learn in a short amount of time and to our credit we kept up with the best at Lord Wandsworth and kept them at bay.

Player of the tournament: A Langeler.

Report by Z Tilley

2nd XI v Leighton Park School

We had a very enjoyable match at Leighton Park, after a chaotic start to the afternoon. Many of the Skipwith boys were unable to access their changing rooms, so we had to recruit a number of boys from the U15 squad. Thank you to all of them for playing at such short notice! It was 1-1 at half time and a very close match. It continued that way, but they managed to finish more of their scoring opportunities and went on to win 1-4. From a performance perspective, it had been great to watch when umpiring and all of the boys played with commitment, with a good and improving level of skill.

Netball

Girls' U18A v Ranelagh A

On Wednesday, Shiplake’s first team played Ranelagh. The game began with Ranelagh having first centre, they started strongly taking an early lead. Shiplake’s defence began to make good interceptions which allowed the ball to move up the court towards our attacking D. Ranelagh had strong defence which made it tricky for the shooters however, good movement from A Galpin and shooting from M Arora allowed Shiplake to raise the score in the second quarter. At half time the positions moved around, with different people playing out of position and the Shiplake team began to pull together to even the score. However, Ranelagh came back fighting strong in the final quarter to leave the final score at 31-16 to Ranelagh with the player of the match going to M Arora.

Report by E Hodson, A Team Netball Captain

Girls U18B v Ranelagh B

On Wednesday 26 February Shiplake’s B team played their sixth match of the season against Ranelagh. They knew it would be a close game with both teams being of very similar standard, but went into it with a positive mindset and great focus. S Griffin scored the first goal of the match, providing the team with extra motivation and allowing another 4 goals to follow that quarter. Although it was an equal score by the end of the first quarter, Shiplake continued to work hard and efficiently move the ball down the court to the attacking third, with some excellent assists from L Worthington and helpful insight and encouragement from B May on the sideline. After the third quarter Shiplake were only 4 goals behind Ranelagh and despite a few missed opportunities, worked hard as a team to close the gap in the final 12 minutes. With consistent pressure from E Guironnet and R Seimon in defence, and multiple excellent interceptions from A Selwyn and L Pasmore in the mid-court, A Hallam and S Griffin were able to add to the score and place some great last few goals. All the girls played extremely well and had great focus resulting in excellent play all round and finishing with a narrow loss of 21-23 to Ranelagh. A particular well done to R Seimon for achieving player of the match and working hard in the centre court to support the attacking players by making some superb passes and interceptions.

Report by A Hallam, B Team Netball Captain

Football

U13A v Sir William Borlase Grammar School

Both teams began the game strongly with Shiplake holding their defensive line and catching Borlase on the off side line very effectively. Shiplake had many chances during the first half but they just didn’t take them on. On the other side Borlase scored two goals just before half time. In the second half our defence stayed strong most of the time with W Rider and L Poundall holding the defence well.

In the end Shiplake lost but we have taken a lot from this game and look forward to our game on Friday.

U13A v Bohunt School Wokingham

The Year 8 A team played their second match of the season against Bohunt School, Wokingham.

We started strong with runs from S Mealing and O Palmer-Page creating width on the left and right wing. Eventually a ball was placed in the box and J Morley took a touch and planted it into the bottom left hand corner with the outside of his boot. One nil Shiplake! Bohunt tried to break our back line but strong solid defending by H Benton, H Kerrison and L Spence helped stop Bohunt from scoring. The midfield had a very high workrate. W Rider with some smooth skill, S Massie had great physical presence, N Rodgers with some great balls to the attack and A Siveter with some deadly dribbling and some unlucky shots. There were some astonishing saves by J Lucking in goal. In the end Shiplake A-team won 5-2. Goals by O Palmer-Page, J Coe and a hat trick by J Morley. A great win for Shiplake and hopefully we can keep up this good progress.

4th XI v The Oratory School

Fighting Fours Triumph in Rain and Shine!

Shiplake College IV 4 - 2 Oratory School

The scene: Relentless hail. Horizontal rain. A pitch reduced to a swamp. Splenetic bouts of angry wind...

But were our heroes daunted? With their trademark determination, ferocity and drive, they instead brought a storm all of their own, battling through the fulmating elements in a tough away game that raged back and forth like a re-run of Stalingrad, and in the end emerging victorious.

H Batchelor constantly menaced their defence and continued his phenomenal scoring run this season with a delectable chip over the on-rushing goalkeeper to open the Shiplake account. Oratory equalised with a speculative long-range effort just at half-time, with the weather at its worst. But all they had succeeded in doing was enraging the Red Terror. With skipper C Ambrose-McCormack and R Rose marshalling the defence, Shiplake again scored when M Gaza instinctively reacted to a rebound from L Taylor's dangerous shot. Oratory equalised again, but then thumping strikes by J Yulhanson-Hutchins and H Stokes decisively settled the matter, the weather bringing the hail but Shiplake bringing the thunder!

Another hugely impressive result by the fighting fourths, with new goalkeeper H Kunzig also shining like a star in the darkness, and J Braun even giving blood to contribute to victory after a very strong performance by him too. There is no stopping them! The next victims to fall trembling into their shadow are University College School next Saturday, where our heroes will surely be the ones giving the education!

See you there...

MVP: J Yulhanson-Hutchins. Honourable mentions: C Ambrose-McCormack, B Wallace, L Taylor