Hill House girls secure Yorkshire and North-East hockey title

Having qualified as T3 Runners-Up in Yorkshire, the girls found themselves up against the North East T3 Champions, Durham School in the semi-finals.

After a tight first half, the Doncaster girls began to raise their game in the second half, and some excellent attacking from Francesca Freeman and Scarlett Fearn led to a good team goal from Harriet Vernon and a penalty corner conversion from Freeman, to secure a deserved 2-0 victory.

A tense final followed against Newcastle High School for Girls. Occasional Newcastle breaks were foiled by the excellent combination of Captain Emilia North, Lowri Jones and Leah Unwin, with most of the attacking play coming from the Hill House girls, who were unlucky not to convert one of their chances in a 0-0 draw.

The draw led to the tensest of penalty shoot-outs; With Newcastle leading 2-0, Matilda Lee managed to convert her effort to keep the game alive, and when the final Newcastle attempt was missed, Scarlett Fearn successfully took the penalties to sudden death.

When Cailtin Martin-Porter saved the next attempt, Fearn took the opportunity to again calmly fire home to send the Hill House Girls rapturously to another regional title.

Hill House Director of Sport Katie Vickers was thrilled with the girls’ performance,said: “This team have come on an amazing journey and are fully deserving of this great success.

"They have worked very hard and learned a lot, especially on their recent tour to Holland.

"They are the 5th Hill House team in seven years to reach national finals, a remarkable achievement of which we are all very proud.”

The team will now play in the T3 National Finals later this term.