Cranleigh Prep girls strike 'rose gold' at national hockey tournament

Cranleigh Prep Schools U12 girls hockey squad at the IAPS National Finals. Courtesy of Emma Reid

At 6am on Wednesday, November 20 Cranleigh Prep School’s U12 girls’ hockey squad set off up to Rugby School to play in the IAPS National Finals.

Twenty one schools competed in this event, coming from as far afield as Edinburgh and Bristol.

In total the Cranleigh Prep team played 103 minutes of fast-paced, seven-a-side hockey and, during this time, they managed to score 13 goals and only concede one (and that included a penalty flick shoot out).

Having won their group, they beat Bromsgrove in the quarter-finals before having to face Danes Hill in the semis.

They had already played this excellent Danes Hill side twice in the season and had narrowly won both of them.

However, it wasn’t to be three in a row and Cranleigh conceded their only goal of the day, just ten seconds before the end of normal time.

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Discipline, determination, strength of character and the desire to win the ‘rose gold’ bronze medals they had spotted on the presentation stand saw them through.