St George's crown perfect day

May 27 2009 Surrey Herald

ST GEORGE'S U11 girls have been crowned National Schools Hockey Champions.

The Weybridge College's junior side, inspired by the goals of Orla Cooke, Ella Collins and Georgia Cook-Radmore, swept aside all opposition in the finals, held in Nottingham last week, before collecting their medals from Great Britain and England goalkeeper Simon Mason.

A delighted Mandy McIlroy, sports coach at the school, said: "The girls (pictured below) deserve huge congratulations for a fantastic performance and amazing result. They are a brilliant team and this is down to the fantastic coaching they have received from Claire Cooper-James, who has dedicated a lot of time and effort into getting this team playing great hockey."

The goal-hungry trio of Cooke, Collins and Cook-Radmore were quickly into their stride as George's made the perfect start, thrashing The Croft School 8-0 in their opening game.

A sterner test was expected against Bishop Stortford College, who had beaten them earlier in the season, and so it proved. However, thanks to some strong tackling and Collins and Cooke again getting on the score-sheet, revenge and a 2-0 win were secured. This meant a win against Kirkham Grammar in game three would guarantee the crown coming to Weybridge.

Cook-Radmore was back among the goals here and though the team looked tired around half-time, the result was never in doubt as George's clinched the title with a 4-0 win.

However, they were determined to make it a clean sweep of victories in their final game against Queens College. And with the defence going throughout the tournament without conceding a goal - and Cooke, Collins and Cook-Radmore again all finding the net - they rounded off a perfect day with a 3-0 win.