Solihull School

Captain: Vicky Preist
Vice Captain: Anna Mulira

This season got off to a flying start by winning the West Midlands tournament on 21st September. We beat Edgbaston HS 4 – 0; KEHS A 1 – 0; KEHS B 2 – 0 and drew with Handsworth. We met Sutton Coldfield College in the final. After no goals in normal time, penalty flicks decided the winner. Emma McCabe, Corinna Frye and captain Vicky Priest all successfully converted their attempts and Solihull School were victorious! The support from the Boys’ team certainly helped. We had a lot of work to do before representing West Midlands in the Midlands final; we used the following six weeks as vital preparation. A loss against Bloxham made it clear that changes had to be made, and after some positional shuffling, we drew against Bablake (2-2), and beat Wrekin (3-2), King’s High Warwick (5-1), Arden (2-1) and Princethorpe (2-0).

The defence centred around Lesley Rigby, Katie Aitchinson, Hayley Wallwork, Orla Swindells and Rachel Taylor, with Liz Hall in goal. Liz improved all season and her reading of the game and her ability to move well often helped to turn possible defeat into victory. This combination made a tight and well-organised defence, with Rachel able to drive the ball forward to the midfield. With a little more work needed on our 16-yard hit-outs, we rarely lost possession when taking the ball up field. Corinna Frye and Emma McCabe had the makings of a formidable partnership. With two different styles of play, they complemented each other well, enabling Corinna to selflessly lay the ball off and Emma almost always finishing off by burying the ball in the back of net with her legendary trademark goal: a screamer to the top left hand corner! I look forward to next season with the prospect of playing these two experienced players together. Emma scored thirteen goals this season, making her the top goal scorer. Midfield play was inspirational, with Vicky Preist, playing on the right hand side, working well with her deputy, Anna Mulira. Vicky showed brilliance at times, taking the ball herself and showing absolute commitment to scoring that much wanted goal. Julia Shelley was perhaps the most versatile player. Starting off as a forward and then in midfield, she did an outstanding job and worked tirelessly feeding the ball to Emma and Caroline Moss. ‘Mossy’ told me she was a defender at the beginning of the season – I didn’t believe her and moved her straight up to striker. She ended up being one of the top goal scorers this season, playing high above Anna and Sarah Houghton, Jai Hollier and Lucy Williams who all rotated in the front line. Mossy has a great strike and when on target, the goalkeeper has little chance. Anna Mulira played a traditional right wing and made some impressive runs up the line, crossing into the ‘D’ for Emma to convert.

The Midlands final was again held at KEHS on a bitterly cold Sunday morning of 27th November. We had a tough group but beat Shrewsbury HS 2-1 in our first match. We thenfacedBromsgrove with their heavy German influence and although losing 1-4, Corinna scored the much-deserved goal. A draw against Wolverhampton took its toll on the team, as Emma came off (after much convincing) with a broken finger. A 0-1 loss against Leicester enabled us to come third in our group.

The season ended with a 3-2 win over King Henry VII, Coventry and without Emma, the team learned to take responsibility for scoring themselves and played what was surely the most team-based hockey game of the season.

Thank you and well done to all the players who have given such a lot of their time and energy into making a successful 1st team. I have been impressed with the positive attitude and commitment that the girls have given all year and their ability to play as a team so early in the season.

I am delighted that we have seventeen players going to Munich on tour in July. This can only improve the standard of Girls’ Hockey within Solihull School.

Players’ choice of Player of the season:
Vicky Priest

Top Goal Scorer:
Emma McCabe (13)

Mrs L J Hogg