Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeHOCKEYKnole Park Men take London D6 title!

Knole Park Men take London D6 title!

HC Knole Park Men’s 1st Team are champions of London League Division Six! In a remarkable season the team have played 15 matches and won 14 of them, including a fantastic 3-1 win over second placed London Edwardians on Saturday. A hat-trick from Duncan Parnis was enough to secure all three points and open up an unassailable four point lead at the top of the league with only one match left to play.

HC Knole Park men’s 1st team travelled to Honor Oak Park in south-east London to play second in the league London Edwardians on Saturday. In a strange turn of events this season, with all the other matches played, the top two teams in the league hadn’t met yet due to a postponement of our first fixture because of a frozen pitch back in late November. A win for Knole Park would secure them the title. A win for London Eds would take the league to the final date next weekend.

The game started at a superb pace. Both teams playing some great hockey. Indeed it was London Eds who carved out the best of the opening exchanges but the defensive block of David Gough-Cooper in goal, Dale Carman, Stuart Medlen, Rob Harrison and Steve Innes in defence kept the Knole Park goal safe from any real chances. 20 minutes into the game, after some sustained pressure, Knole Park won a penalty corner which Duncan flicked into the goal to take a 1-0 lead. A few more chances came and went, but this was how it stayed until half-time.

London Edwardian’s came flying out of the blocks in the second half and within minutes had won a penalty corner themselves. After a goalmouth scramble the London Ed’s striker latched onto a rebound and fired the ball into the goal. This woke the Knole Park team up from their half-time slumber and soon enough youngsters Charlie Harrison and Indy Morris started pulling the strings in midfield alongside Duncan. A few penalty corners later and Duncan scored his second of the game after a very smart move with Indy. This gave Knole Park the lead again, and the confidence to push on and go for a game winning third goal. A superb move involving Adam Ward, Jamie Bingham, Matt Hebden and Billy Hughes then resulted in another penalty corner which player of the match Duncan coolly dispatched for his hat-trick and to win the game.

London Ed’s were superb all game and are fully deserved of their promotion this season too. Their umpires and hospitality were also superb – it was a proper Saturday afternoon of hockey! Well done to them on their promotion and for a great season.

Captain Duncan Parnis said: “I am delighted for the team and the club to have won the league! For all the players that are either new to the game, juniors that are new to adult hockey or for those that are more experienced: Thank you! You’ve all been awesome! Putting together a great run of results over a sustained period of time is exceptionally difficult, but we did it! League champions in our first season! Remarkable!”

Goal-Scorers: Duncan Parnis x 3

HC Knole Park success at the U10 & U12 at the Kent Cup Championships!
HC Knole Park have had one of their most successful weeks of hockey so far! The U10 Girls won Gold, and both the U12 Boys and Girls won medals in the ‘in2hockey’ Kent Cup competitions. A remarkable achievement for a club that only has enough players to field one team in each competition! Overall the club played 23 matches and won 18 of them! Drawing once in the U10 Girls and twice in the U12 Girls knock-out matches and only losing to Canterbury in the U12 Boys competition. The U10 Girls won all bar one of their matches scoring 20 goals and didn’t concede all tournament! Lila Hughes top scored with seven goals. Captain Farrah Hilden was superb all day and lead the team fantastically! The U12 Boys scored 23 goals with Mack Copp top scoring with 10 goals and Isaac Dale with 8 goals and the U12 Girls scored 17 goals with Celia Foster top scoring with seven goals.

Director of Coaching Duncan Parnis said: “This is an amazing achievement for Knole Park! We have worked exceptionally hard to provide all our members with the best hockey opportunities that we can. To be one of the only clubs to medal in all the different competitions is fantastic!

Our U10 Girls have been superb all season at training. They had a lot of tournaments frozen off this season, so it’s been hard to give them the match practice they wanted. Thankfully we were able to work with Tonbridge School to provide the girls with an internal tournament on Saturday and perhaps this was just the boost they needed ahead of their competition. Their technical quality on the ball clearly gave the girls so much confidence to play and enjoy their hockey which was lovely to see! Well done to all the girls in the U10 group – I am very proud of them all!

The U12 Boys had a brilliant tournament, winning every match except against Canterbury who were deserved tournament winners. They played some sublime hockey and were outstanding in the semi-final. A silver medal and qualification to the next round is a great achievement.

The U12 Girls who have improved so much this season that to win a bronze medal was slightly bittersweet in the end. The girls played so well in the semi-final and deserved to make the final, but the quality of the performances throughout the tournament means that the girls can be very pleased with their efforts. Well done to all that have played!”

U10 Girls win the Kent Cup Championships!
HC Knole Park’s U10 Girls team travelled to Canterbury for the U10 ‘in2hockey’ Kent Cup Championships on Sunday filled with great excitement and anticipation after an excellent season! 

In the first group match the girls were clearly quite nervous as things didn’t quite go according to plan. Some resolute defending from Marden prevented the Knole Park girls scoring despite endless attempts and the majority of possession. A 0-0 draw did not reflect the dominance of the performance but obviously motivated the Knole Park girls to be more clinical as they then went on to beat Ashford 3-0, Holcombe 7-0 and a dominant 5-0 victory against Tunbridge Wells B team. The final group game was against a strong Canterbury team who had won all their other matches. The winner would top the group and would potentially have a marginally easier draw in the semi-finals. In an exciting game Charlotte Parker, playing as goalkeeper for only the second time, made some important saves before Farrah Hilden scored the only goal of the game to give Knole Park the victory and a place in the semi-finals.

As group winners Knole Park then faced the runners up of the other pool, Sevenoaks. The Knole Park girls continued to display their excellent attacking ability with fast, dynamic and skillful dribbling and excellent linking passes which resulted in a convincing 3-0 victory with goals from Lila Hughes, Emily Bingham and Bea Foster to seal a place in the final. The girls were absolutely fantastic for every minute of the match and you could see how much they wanted to play well and support each other!

In the final Knole Park faced Tunbridge Wells. The girls produced some superb hockey in the most even match of the day. In an end to end match Knole Park won several penalty corners and forced the opposition goalkeeper into action on several occasions. Top scorer Lila Hughes scored the only goal of the game and Knole Park were crowned as the Kent Cup champions for the first time!

The progress of the team since the start of the season and their commitment to training has been a pleasure to see and they fully deserve their first Kent trophy and will now represent Kent at the regional finals in April.

The team scored 20 goals in their seven matches divided between several players: Lila Hughes was top scorer with 7 goals, Emily Bingham, Elisa Hippe and Farrah Hilden all scored 4 goals apiece and Bea Foster also scored one. Great credit should also be given to the defensive unit of Charlotte Parker, Emily Newton, Liliya Dale and Tash Stinson who did not concede a single goal all day!

They are now also through to the Regional Finals taking place at Harleston Magpies Hockey Club on Saturday 25th April. Many congratulations to everyone that played!

Coach Ruth Bingham said: “They have been a pleasure to coach this season as they are such fun and so keen to learn and improve. Their commitment to attending training, both outdoors and indoors have really helped their development. Everyone at the club is so proud of all them all!”

U12 Boys win Silver!
On Sunday, HC Knole Park’s U12 Boys entered the Kent Cup for the first time. Having had a very positive season so far the boys were in good spirits and excited to get their Cup season underway! The boys made a blistering start winning their first three matches: 3-0 v Ashford (Mack, Isaac 2), 5-2 v Holcombe (Ed, Moritz 2, Isaac 2) and 1-0 v Blackheath (Moritz).

Up next would be the two matches that would define the group. Last year’s winners, Canterbury, followed by last year’s runner’s up, Sevenoaks! A tall order! In a superb game of hockey against Canterbury the boys were on fine form. They created numerous chances, only to be thwarted by the excellent Canterbury goalkeeper. Against the run of play Canterbury scored a last minute close-range goal which would be how the match would finish. A tough defeat to take, but without time to dwell on the defeat, the team had to go again against Sevenoaks. In an outstanding performance the quality and the skill of the young Knole Park team tore through the Sevenoaks defence and it wasn’t long before Mack and Isaac combined to score three goals between them to win the match 3-0. Mack claiming two and Isaac the other. The performance of the day and all of a sudden the defeat to Canterbury was a thing of the past!

In the final two matches the boys continued their winning run with comfortable wins against BromBecks, 4-1 (Ed, Isaac & Mack 2), and Tunbridge Wells 3-0 (Mack 2, Isaac).

Knole Park had qualified for the semi-finals as runners-up behind Canterbury and would face the other group’s winners, Marden HC. In what can only be described as one of the finest U12 Boys performances of all time(!), the team ran out 4-0 winners with Mack and Isaac again being the main protagonists. A hat-trick from Mack and one from Isaac was the exceptional way to win the semi-final.

And through to the final where they would meet Canterbury again. The Knole Park boys gave it everything they could, but just couldn’t find a way past the Canterbury goalkeeper. Canterbury were much improved from earlier in the tournament and they ran out 2-0 winners and took the gold. Having come through the harder group and with the silver medals around their necks, the boys were delighted.

They are now also through to the Regional Finals taking place at Surbiton Hockey Club on Sunday 26th April. Many congratulations to everyone that played!

U12 Girls win Bronze!
On Sunday, HC Knole Park entered the U12 Girls Kent Cup for the first time. The girls got off to a flying start beating BromBeck 6-0. A hat-trick from Celia and singles from Ines, Izzy and Lettie was the perfect way to start the competition. Next up were Tunbridge Wells B-Team. Goals from Ines, Georgina and Celia gave the girls a 3-0 win. Against Canterbury A it was the same score line and the same scorers with Izzy swapping in for Georgina. Next up was Sevenoaks B team. Two excellent goals from Lettie and Betsy were the difference as the team won 2-0. In the final group match the girls defeated Blackheath 2-0 with Celia and Betsy scoring.

Topping the group the girls qualified for the semi-finals. In a slightly peculiar tournament format, the three group winners qualified, plus the best runner-up. Last year’s winners Sevenoaks had also won all their group matches and outscored us by two goals so they were ranked #1. Knole Park were ranked #2 and then the final group winners, Tunbridge Wells A, were ranked #3. Marden then came through from Tunbridge Wells’ group as the best runner-up. The semifinals were therefore: Sevenoaks v Marden & Knole Park v Tunbridge Wells.

In one of the performances of the day, the girls played out a completely one sided semi-final. Creating chance after chance the girls were so close to winning the match, but for the inspired goalkeeper in the Tunbridge Wells goal. The match finished 0-0 and went to penalty strokes. The girls scored their first two strokes and Annabel had saved T.Wells’ second flick, which meant the girls had a chance to win, but their third stroke was saved. In the third round of sudden death penalties the Tunbridge Wells GK once again came to their rescue – and made the save to knock the Knole Park girls out.

To the Bronze Medal match: Still disappointed from the semi-final, the girls conceded their first goal of the day. However a super goal from Celia brought the teams level. Further chances came and went, before the match finished 1-1. To penalties again and this time the Knole Park girls learnt from last time and won the shoot out to pick up a bronze medal! Many congratulations to all the girls in what has been a phenomenal season. Their improvements have been out of this world!

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