Womens 1st XI vs Basingstoke L1

The sun was setting over Kings on Thursday night as Winchester Ladies 1s took to the pitch for a game under the lights in their Hampshire Cup semifinal clash against Basingstoke 1s.

With Basingstoke in the league above, Winchester went into the game as the underdogs, but knew this would be a good test of things to come for next season having already secured league promotion.

In the first quarter Winchester came out of the gate strong and put the pressure on from the start, but despite their pressure Basingstoke were able to nick a ball around the halfway line and some quick counterattacking play earned them a short corner. The initial shot was stopped but the rebound fell to a Basingstoke player who had found some space in the D and was able to convert with a good back post finish.

Winchester fired back and despite creating many chances it seemed like luck just wasn't heading their way. A quickly taken long corner from Clare Griffiths gave Charlotte Gale the chance to break into the Basingstoke D and get a reverse hit shot off, which came agonisingly close, to just ricochet off the post. Winchester didn't let this discourage them and every time they went forward they attacked as a team. This persistence paid off in the final quarter with a short corner coming out to Holly Keelan who wasted no time finding a clinical pass through to Marie Atkinson, who lifted the ball over the Basingstoke goalkeeper to bring the score to 1-1.

Despite continuing Winchester attacks and pressure, the team could not find the winning goal – and with the score remaining 1-1 at full time this took this cup match to penalty shuffles.

In hockey shuffles the rules are simple - an attacker starts with the ball 23 meters from the goal. It's live play 1v1 against the goalkeeper, with the attacker having 8 seconds to score.

Goals from Bea Eaton, Francesca Bradley and Charlotte Gale and two saves from Winchester goalkeeper Shelley Mott meant the score stood at 3-3 after 5 penalties, taking the game to a nerve-wracking sudden death.

A textbook goal from Charlotte Gale and a clean save from Shelley Mott gave Winchester the win, and they now advance to the Hampshire Cup finals which will be held on May Day Bank Holiday.

With 5 teams still in the Hampshire cup competitions and 4 teams promoted, this stands to be an incredibly successful season for Winchester Hockey Club.