Category: Sport

The U18 boys’ team played an exciting and end to end game against Norwich School. Bitterly disappointed, they had to settle for second best after the match was determined by penalty strokes, ending 4-4 after full time.

Woodbridge started nervously and the Norwich centre forward pounced on a moment of hesitation and robbed the ball from our centre back and calmly slotted it into the net. Woodbridge recovered and started to settle into the game. However too much direct play down the middle resulted in many turnovers and counter attacks. Chris Moody made some good saves in goal and the back four, led by Ben Kilburn had to be at their best to stem the tide. 10 minutes from the break Norwich doubled their lead and went into half time 2-0 up. Woodbridge had chances in the first half but Norwich defence, especially at penalty corners were up to the test.

In the second half Woodbridge improved their marking, and defensive positioning, was more patient and also started to change channels more, making use of the full width of the pitch. Forward leads improved to give us more width. 7 minutes into the half some good link play between Will Neall and George Williams from a free hit released Ed Robson to take a clear shot and the keeper had no chance. Ten minutes later Myles King made clever use of tactics at an attacking free hit to win a corner. Ed calmly converted. 2-2.

Woodbridge won another penalty corner. A good move was converted well by Will Neall getting the final touch from a Robson flick. Play continued and minutes later Robson again unleashed and the score was 4-2 to Woodbridge, scoring 3 goals in 6 minutes.

The writing looked on the wall for Norwich. But with key players tiring, and a little inexperience showing, Norwich persisted and forced penalty corners, two of which Woodbridge couldn’t keep out. The final score was 4-4.

Disappointed to not convert their strong position, Woodbridge went into penalty strokes. Now it was a lottery. Chris Moody saved one of Norwich’s strokes and Myles King, Will Neall and Tom Innes scored for Woodbridge, Norwich winning the match 4-3 on strokes.

A very exciting game to start the season.

Player of the match was a close contest between Ed Robson and Ben Kilburn, but ultimately Ben Kilburn’s play in defence, and as distributor won him player of the match.

Many congratulations to Y7 Tobias Juszt who was part of the IES (Ipswich East Suffolk) Hockey U14 Boys’ Team that won the Suffolk Youth League Championships, earning their Gold Medals after a long and successful season.  Congratulations also to Y9s Oliver Juszt and Alex Weir-Simmons who have made it into the Suffolk County Hockey squad for the second year running and have even been asked to play up a year, joining the U15s.

Cross country
Well done to the 32 runners (from both The Abbey and the Senior School) who competed in Saturday’s County Schools’ Cross-Country Championships at Alde Valley School, Leiston. Although the conditions seemed clear, the wind was a force to be reckoned with and made the course that little bit tougher for our athletes. Many congratulations go to the 22 runners who came in the top 40, therefore gaining a place in the next round. However, a special mention must go to Kit Evans Lombe and Nathan Goddard, who both came first in their respective races, and Sarah Barker who came third in hers. The minor boys had some cracking results, with 7 out of the 9 runners through to the next round!!

Athletes who gained top 40 places

Minor Girls: Cecily Royal-Dawson 9th, Bea Thomas 11th, Isabelle Eaton 15th, Amy Goddard 20th, Molly Marshall 31st & Ella Walker 32nd.

Minor Boys: Kit Evans Lombe 1st, Henry Dinwiddy 5th, Charlie Turner 8th, William Franklin 13th, Tom Turner 17th, Thomas Harper 18th & Tom Martin 25th.

Junior Girls: Sarah Barker 3rd, Amy Graham 4th, Milly Buckingham 7th, Sophie Graham 17th & Ianthe Hill 40th.

Junior Boys: Nathan Goddard 1st, George Rufford 8th & Daniel Davies 38th.

Senior Boys: Connor Grant 19th.

The next round is on Thursday 14th January at RHS. Good luck to those involved!

Thank you to all the parents for their support, and especially to Mr Goddard who has worked so hard with our runners to help them to achieve so highly.

The U12A team has just completed their season and signed off with an 11 try victory over Copleston. Henry Waldron bagged 4 tries to clinch the top try scorer of the season, Tom Turner picked up 2, and John Hendry, Will Franklin, Mak Zie, Seb Gifford and Tom Harper all managed to get on the score sheet. A great achievement to win 6 of their 7 fixtures. The future is bright.

The girls have remained unbeaten this term, winning all 8 of their matches played during the course of the season. The team scored 30 goals and conceded only 5. Despite not qualifying for the next round the Junior 1 team was also unbeaten in the U13 County cup (where matches were shorter than normal). At the cup the team played 5 matches, winning 2 and drawing 3. They scored 7 goals in the process and conceded 1.

A 100% record for a team who gave 100% in all practices and matches. The team scored a total of 37 goals in competitive matches, conceded 6. They won 10 matches and drew 3. Ianthe Hill was top scorer for the team with 12 goals, followed by Sophie Graham (8) and Clara Simpson (7).

This was a game where we seemed to be constantly under pressure but we held our own and fought for everything. Poppy Fletcher, Freya Huxley, Molly Webster and Flo Scott played brilliantly; but even their valiant efforts and the front half of Everest couldn’t have stopped the Framlingham short corner, hit with perfect timing and flying like a rocket. Freya Nyberg, Sophie Drew, and Lucy Hudson all played well and although we lost the girls can be proud of their efforts.

Despite the bitter cold and sleet our girls played on undaunted, persevering through the weather to create some great chances up front… but their goalie was good, imposingly smacking her stick on her pads when she wasn’t in the thick of the action. At last we broke through for Freya Nyberg to score a brilliant goal, supplied by some great mid field play from Molly Webster. Half time came, and with it at last the weather began to take its toll…. Fewer chances for us and one for them earned Ipswich the draw. But our girls did themselves proud, especially in the cold and only having eleven players and no rolling substitutions. Well done!

Maudie Peel reports
The U14 A and B teams went to play away at Framlingham. Unfortunately both Framlingham teams were very strong and resulted in two losses for us but we still managed to play really well.

The A team started out with a very good first half, only conceding one goal. We managed to start out defending one of the scariest short corners ever and clearing it out wide. We managed to play very defensively and only let in a goal in the last five minutes of the match, with wonderful attacking on the left from Tessa Lye and Emma Hendry.

In the second half, we still managed to play really well. Unfortunately there was a very tricky player on the Framlingham side who sneaked in to score again. Although we did manage to get it further up the pitch, we didn’t manage to score any goals but Amy Graham did really well in the middle and on the right. Great defensive work from Sarah Barker, Joanne Garnett and Amelia Potter. It was a good match and was unfortunate to lose it 3-0 but everyone played really well. Player of the match was Emma Hendry for great skill and good attacking.

Lily Felton reports
The 1st Team played Ipswich High School on Tuesday afternoon, and despite a sluggish start to the game, we managed to improve our intensity and tenacity quickly. We maintained a high proportion of ball possession throughout the match, allowing our forwards to attack strongly on the right and left sides. Our defensive line, as solid as ever, were not required as much as usual, enabling the attack and midfield players to push forward and attack the ‘D’ frequently. We scored a well-deserved goal in the first half, thanks to a brilliant cross from Imy Craig on the right-hand side, into the ‘D’ to Victoria Williams, who safely pushed into the goal. Even though the girls were tired after an energetic first half, we continued to play with force and awareness. Credit to Nicole Buckingham, Verity Jackson and Georgina Warren for considerable runs down the right and left sides, leading to secure a second goal, giving us a comfortable lead. Well done to all the girls for being so hardworking and eager to score! Special mention goes to Georgina Warren who was given player of the match, due to her tireless work in midfield.

The Hockey 2nd XI team may have lost a few games this season, but through these dark times the team has continued to attend training and play matches with enthusiasm, commitment and dedication. And this positive mental attitude has paid rich dividends at last: victory over Framlingham by 1-0! A great team performance and everyone involved should be extremely proud.