For Cambridge South L6s’ first league game of the season (and indeed ever) we welcomed several brand new players (and welcomed back Harriet). Communication and good positional play is one of the keys for successful hockey and, given that many of us were meeting our new team mates for the very first time, we did pretty well on this front.

South put on early pressure, hassling the Wisbech D. Wilma Kotzenburg did a great job of battling for the ball and pushing up the line, and Scarlet Pleasence had some great driving runs from attacking midfield.

The early part of the game seemed quite evenly matched. Wisbech began to put more attacking pressure on the South goal but we had an excellent set of defenders. New players Lauren Meakin and Avi Ibayan both made an amazing debut in defence with some well timed tackles and confident clearances. And they haven’t even made it to training yet! Elly Bull and Hannah Marchant also played brilliantly in defense, making good use of the width on hit outs.

Danielle (a.k.a. ‘Anne’!) showed great positioning and runs in her debut match. Unfortunately despite great work from the midfielders, including Rhian O’Connor and Charlotte White, we couldn’t send that crucial ball through to her for a shot.

Despite not winning this was a really enjoyable game and shows the promise of a successful first season for South.