Mowden Hall girls win Sedbergh Netball Tournament
On Sunday 5th October, the Mowden Hall School Under 13 netball team competed in a long-established and major preparatory schools netball event at Sedbergh School, in Cumbria. The event started at 10.30 a.m.
Match one was against Windermere St Anne's and Mowden played with confidence despite the long drive, winning the opening match 10-1.
The second match was against a well-drilled team from St Mary's Hall, Stoneyhurst, Lancashire and the game was played end-to-end with the score creeping up for both sides. The final score was 6-5 to Mowden. Mid-fielder Ffion Thompson controlled play and supplied good passes to Goal Attackers Lilias Jeffery and Alice Cheesbrough. The third game was against host side Sedbergh's Junior School. Mowden conceded an early goal but punished the audacious move by scoring frequently and inflicting a score of 12-4 on the home side.
At this point, the winners of the second group of teams and the runners up played each other. Mowden's rivals of many years, Packwood Haugh, from Shropshire were the semi final opponents. Having been undone in numerous finals and semi-finals over the years by this school (Mowden last beat them in the final of 2002!) the girls were determined to do their best. After a nervous start, Mowden started to pull away and despite a valiant fight back by the midlanders, Mowden held on to their lead and won by 8-6.
This took us to the final and we faced an impressive looking side from Rishworth, near Halifax. Both teams battled against exhaustion after a long day of matches and Rishworth imposed themselves quickly on the game. In the first half of 10 minutes, they scored 4 goals to Mowden's 1. However, the Mowden girls played with great inspiration in the second half, scoring 8 goals and knocking the Yorkshire teams back, who replied with 4 more goals. At full time it was 8-8, so two halves of 2 minutes of extra time and possible penalties to follow were announced. Mowden scored a quick goal and Rishworth replied immediately. In the final two minute half, Mowden put away two more and at the final whistle, found themselves winners by 11-9.
The jubilant girls were presented their medals and the trophy by Sedbergh School Headmaster, Chris Hirst, who also presented a special trophy to the best player of the tournament, who was Ffion Thompson of Mowden Hall.
After the presentation, Mowden's captain, Alicia Walker was delighted and said "I am very proud of our team and although we are all really tired it was a great day for us all."