HC Knole Park Ladies 1st team remain top of the league after an outstanding performance against Gore Court on Saturday. In some pretty miserable conditions the 1st team started the game on the front foot and took the game to Gore Court. First half goals from Lottie Bingham (2), Cara Gould (2), Phoebe Gough-Cooper and an excellent penalty corner move from Anna Faulstich made the half time score 6-0.
The second half followed a similar pattern with more goals from Cara Gould (to complete her first hat-trick for the club), Lottie (2 more to make it 4), Player of the Match Anna (scoring 2 more for her hat-trick), Grace Reeve and Josefina Hippe to make the final score 13-1 to Knole Park. A special mention to the Gore Court goalkeeper who was absolutely brilliant throughout the match. The HCKP goal of the match was an incredible backhand strike into the top corner of the goal by Lottie Bingham! Well done to all involved.
Their next match is on Saturday 26th October against K Sports (Cobdown).
Men’s 1st team start with a win!
HC Knole Park’s Men’s 1st team got their league campaign underway on Saturday against London Royals. Twelve of the sixteen players were playing their first ever hockey match so there were a lot of unknowns before we started!
The first half reflected a team new to one another and 11 a-side hockey, however as the half progressed the team started stringing some passes together and playing some better KP style hockey. The breakthrough came when an out-letting error by London Royals was capitalised on by Robin Docherty whose thunderbolt shot beat the GK at the near post. The second goal came 5 minutes later as Duncan Parnis scored a penalty corner. As the half progress London Royals came into the match more and a few great saves from Mark Webster keep the opposition at bay. On the stroke of half time the pressure started to tell, and London Royals scored their first goal of the season making it 2-1 to Knole Park at half time.
In a significantly better second half, the team really started to play well. Player of the Match Fin Webster was involved in everything positive for the team, picking up 6 assists for the match! Parnis grabbed a further 5 goals from a mix of penalty corners and open play goals for a double hat-trick. Robin Docherty added his second and Matt Hedben scored a well taken goal from a fine angle to complete the scoring. Full time and the team had won their first ever match 9-1! What a fantastic way to start the season.
Next week the team travel to Clapham Common for Round 2.
Junior Match Reports
HC Knole Park fielded six junior teams on Sunday on their busiest junior day so far! U10 Mixed and U10 Girls, U12 Boys, U14 Boys and two U14 Girls teams!
Under-10 Festivals at Canterbury and Bromley & Beckenham HC
Entering two teams into the U10 Festivals the juniors played eight matches and had a great time! Three wins, three draws and two loses meant all the teams went home happy having played their first games for Knole Park. Well done to Lucas, Georgina, Emily, Lila and Liliya for some excellent individual performances!
Under-12 Boys win their second tournament at Woking HC
The U12 Boys played their second tournament of the season at Woking HC. In matches against Wimbledon the boys won 5-0 & 7-0 before drawing against Woking 1-1. The boys topped the group and therefore they had a rematch against Woking in the final where they drew 1-1 again! The tournament would be decided on penalty flicks!
Louis was fantastic in goal and Maxim, Mack and James all stepped up to score and subsequently win the tournament!
Well done to Top Scorers for the afternoon Mack and Artie. Mack was also voted the Player of the Tournament!
Under-14 Boys undone by the Old Loughtonians HC
The U14s boys had another tough afternoon in the Mercian Premier League. Coming up against last year’s beaten finalists, it was always going to be a challenging match. But training has been superb and young team have made a lot of progress!
The game didn’t quite start as planned and the team were 0-2 in as many minutes! They regained their composure and started to dominate the match. Playing most of the match in the opponents half the team were always susceptible to the counter-attack and so it proved. Committing players forward in typical Knole Park style, turnovers resulted in space for the opponents and they capitalised scoring five more unanswered goals in the first half.
The second half was a much better performance and included the goal of the match! Passing through seven players from left to right and defence to the forward line, the team sliced through the Old Loughts defence and Giacomo Sebastini scored a rocket of a backhand!
Chances came and went for both teams. James Humphris playing very well in goal and the quartet of Indy Morris, Lars Hansen, Ben Dawkins and George Glen in midfield dominating the possession. A few more counter-attacks later and it was all over! Old Loughts had won 11-1.
If the boys can recreate their second half performance again and look to improve on it further, I’m sure their first win isn’t too far away. Well done to Charlie Harrison on his Player of the Match performance.
Under-14B Girls win against Surbiton in the A-Team League
The U14B Girls played their second match of the season against Surbiton Eagles (their U12s). In a dominant performance the Knole Park girls were superb from start to finish.
Player of the Match Bella Munoz was outstanding. Scoring 3 goals and assisting 3 more. She was supported by Summer Knight-Thompson and Charlotte Watkins who were both fantastic too. The goal-scorers were Bella Munoz (3), Mackenzie Ward (3), Phoebe Bright (3), Summer Knight-Thompson (2), Amber Croll and Lettie Hughes. Final Score: 13-2.
The girls stay top of the league and face Burgess Hill in the next match.
Under-14A Girls also win against Surbiton in the Premier League
In a goal fest of a day, the final match was also against Surbiton HC (their U14C team). The U14 Girls picked up where they left off the previous day in the Ladies 1st team match. Lottie Bingham was on imperious form scoring four goals, including a coolly taken penalty stroke and an outstanding individual effort.
Olivia Breed was back on goal-scoring form, bagging her first HCKP hat-trick in typical Olivia style! For the second day in a row Phoebe Gough-Cooper was also on goal-scoring form with two goals and Josefina Hippe & Anna Faulstich finished the rout with a goal each. Final Score: 11-0.
The girls stay top of the league and face Wimbledon next who have also won both of their matches so far!
