PUBLISHED 01 February 2022
AKS are celebrating being crowned double County Champions as both the U13 A & B teams emerged victorious in the Lancashire U13 Tournament , with both teams remaining unbeaten throughout, and with the C team finishing a creditable 3rd place in the B tournament in was a fantastic afternoon's hockey for the U13 Squad.
The A team started the tournament in fine style with a 7 – 0 win against Westholme to get their first points on the board. The second match against Kirkham was a tight contest but AKS deservedly took the lead with a well worked goal before the break. Lifted by this the team grew in confidence and played some superb passing hockey, switching play well and creating more goal scoring opportunities. Great driving play down the right from Sophia M constantly put the Kirkham defence under pressure and excellent tackling by Georgia S and full back play from Esther T thwarted the Kirkham attacks. A second goal sealed another win and put more important points on the board. The third game was another impressive display of hockey with Amelia H scoring a hat-trick of goals to add to those of Esther T , Lucy W and Anna V in the 6 – 0 win against St.Marys Hall, who themselves were undefeated up to this point. We went into the final game against Lytham High with top spot within reach and again produced a fine display of hockey. More good forward play saw Charlotte H find the net to add to goals from Amelia H, Lucy W and Anna V to make the final score 5 – 0. With 4 wins, scoring 20 goals while not conceding any the A team were deservedly crowned Lancashire U13 Champions and picked up winners medals. The team now go on to represent Lancashire in the North West Finals later in the term.
AKS entered two teams in the B Tournament and again were crowned champions with the C team 3rd.
The B team started the tournament slowly against Westholme and despite dominating possession could not find the net in the first half. After the break great driving play from Hannah Asquith and Rosie L put the Westholme defence under extreme pressure but some great saves from the Westholme keeper frustrated AKS. It was only a superb strike in the final attacking corner of the game with seconds left on the clock that found the net to secure a deserved win 1 – 0. The second game saw AKS against Kirkham and we raised our game to play some good passing hockey. Poppy M and Ellie-Rose S found the net to secure a superb 2 – 0 victory. The third game saw AKS B against the C team and a good start saw them take an early lead and gaining in confidence with every game the team scored three more goals to make the final score 4 – 0. With 3 victories on the board we went in to the final game with winner’s medals to play for. We played our best hockey of the day with Poppy M and Rosie L putting the Lytham B team under constant pressure and 4 goals from Poppy and one from Ellie Rose S and Rosie L saw the final score an impressive 6 – 0. Following the A team the B team were crowned Lancashire Champions scoring 13 goals without conceding a single goal.
The AKS C team played against all the other school B teams and did themselves proud finishing in 3rd spot. Hard fought draws against Lytham B and Kirkham B and a 1 – 0 win against Westholme B were reward for some excellent play which saw the team improve game by game.