GIRLS at the King’s School at Canterbury have won the National Indoor Hockey Championship for Under-16s - at the first attempt.

The King’s girls first represented Kent in the East of England Indoor Championships at Bury St Edmunds, which they won.

They then travelled to Worcester for the national finals, where they started slowly, drawing against Sharnbrook School from the Midlands, but went on to defeat Exeter School 3-0 in a fine performance, the highlight being a roofed deflection by Caroline Lawrence. This was followed by a 1-0 win over Sir William Borlase, thanks to the remarkable efforts of Sarah Ventress in goal.

On the second day King’s defeated Wakefield School 3-0 in a game where Wakefield failed to threaten. In the semi-final, King’s faced Newport School from Cambridge, against whom they had drawn in the East tournament.

King’s thought they had identified Newport’s weaknesses second time around and scored fairly early on, through Fenella Pengelley, and dominated the first half with Emily Stewart running rings around the opposition defence and earning plenty of corners.

King’s hit the post and forced some excellent saves from the Newport goalkeeper, narrowly failing to score on a number of occasions.

High drama occurred just a few minutes later when a penalty stroke was awarded to Newport.

With the stroke saved by Sarah Ventress, Newport failed to score again, and King’s progressed to the final against Millfield.

There was little to choose between King’s and Millfield, but the Canterbury squad showed great determination.

They went 1-0 up through an open play goal from Tania Hayes, but after a desperate save on the line, Millfield were awarded a penalty stroke, which they duly converted.

In the second half King’s were soon under significant pressure, with Becky Marsh making a superb save on the line.

With three minutes to go, Fenella Pengelley converted a superbly executed short corner and, despite being under significant pressure, King’s held on until full time.

The whole squad contributed to the final, with Katie Lark and Anna Storer making valuable contributions when they were on the pitch, and captain Katriona Pengelley controlling the midfield as she had done throughout the tournament.

Sarah Richardson, teacher-in-charge of King’s girls’ hockey, said: “This was a superb team performance, and a credit to a squad of highly talented and extremely determined players. They have benefited hugely from some excellent coaching from outside coaches Andrew Dunn and Andy Richardson.

“Thanks also go to Karen Reidy, the manager of the year, who has become a national champion manager on her first outing.

“The way the team conducted themselves both on and off the pitch earned them the respect of other teams as well as the officials.

“It was an added bonus that Fenella Pengelley was the highest scorer of the tournament.”