21 February 2022
February has been a busy month for the Hockey Club. It started well with the U12s winning the County Championship at Tilsley Park, beating strong opposition from New College, St Hugh’s and Magdalen School. It was particularly impressive to see the development of the team who previously lost to Magdalen in a block fixture to turn around their fortunes to win 4-0 in the final game. They will go on to the regional tournament in March.
We took on St Edward’s in a block fixture on 5 February. The 1st XI saw a lot of the ball but ended the game with a draw. In the other senior fixtures the 3rd XI lost in a closely fought game as did the U16B. While the U16A continued their fine form with an excellent win. The U15 age group came away undefeated, with both the U15A and U15B team winning 3-1 and 6-1 respectively. The U15C team had an exciting 3-3 end to end game. The U14s put in a respectable performance against a strong St Edward’s side who had beaten them earlier on in the County Championship, while the U14B continued their winning ways with an impressive 5-0 win. The U13A and U12A teams also travelled up the road to play Cothill and both teams came out on top in a strong performance.
Wednesday 9 February was a busy day for the junior teams having a triangular fixture with both Dragon School and New College. The U13A won both games and the U12A won one and lost one. This day also saw round 3 of the U18 Tier 3 Cup competition for the 1st XI versus Bloxham. The game was tight from the start and a Caspar Mannix drag flick was the only separation between the teams. A special mention also goes to Nathaniel Zamler for an excellent day between the post recording a clean sheet.
On Tuesday 15 February we welcomed Cranford House School for a full set of junior fixtures. Despite the conditions, all games were played with fantastic spirit and some top level hockey was on show. All Abingdon teams won which was a fantastic achievement, in particular the U12C team who made their Abingdon Hockey debut! This led nicely into the U16 Tier 1 Round 3 game versus Magdalen School. This fixture has always been a tight affair with both teams winning and losing in recent seasons. Abingdon started the stronger of the two teams and took an early lead into half time, however MCS did not give up the fight and fought back strongly with two quick goals. The team Abingdon pulled back two goals to end the game 3-2. We now face Marlborough for a spot in the quarter finals.
