London Wayfarers Ladies 1s will be playing in a higher league from September, after winning promotion after a magnificent season.
The team finished second in Division 2 of the South Clubs’ Women’s Hockey League and will be promoted to Division 1 with Spencer Ladies 1s.
Fran Low, one of the team’s co-captains with Pippa Hatchett, said much of the promotion success has been down to a mixture of player retention and the addition of some new play players who fitted in with the team.
“Our best game has to be beating Spencer 2-1. This win turned out to be the most important in the season and gave us the confidence to think that we could, and deserve to, get promoted!” said Fran, who has also coached the Men’s Barbarians, Outlaws and Pirates since the beginning of the season.
She went on to say that there had been some stand out performances but did single out one in particular: “Our goalkeeper JP made some awesome triple (triple!) saves on multiple occasions throughout the season.”
It’s fair to say that the team have had a fairly demanding season, with the team making several long-distance trips on the weekends and having to play twice a weekend on occasions.
“A big highlight from our season has to be our Cup trip to Guernsey. Despite losing on flicks on the pitch, we won easily in the bar!” Probably fair to say they haven’t compromised on the social side…
Fran notes that for next season, the step up in leagues, where they will be playing Teddington 1s and Oxford Uni 1s, will be a real challenge both physically and tactically.
“We always play better against stronger opposition, so it will be exciting to see what we can do against some quality, well drilled teams. Lots of work will be needed over the summer but for now we will continue to enjoy the celebrations!”
And they will be continuing at the End of Season Ball on 19 May. Congratulations girls!