Having won the South Yorkshire title in September, after a tense 0-0 draw with Hymer’s College in the Yorkshire Finals in October, the Doncaster girls had qualified for the North-East Championships.

In the North-East semi-final, a superb display of intense yet stylish hockey, the Hill House Girls raced into a 2-0 lead against Durham champions, Yarm School, with goals from striker Gabriella Bowerman. With her partner in attack, Bella Holgate, then cruelly denied by the crossbar, the game looked settled thanks to a dominant display in midfield by Sophie Bundy, India Leach, Sophie Dent, Louisa Reynolds and Bronwyn Jones, until a late Yarm breakaway goal brought the score to 2-1. Undaunted by this, the girls responded with a final attack which saw winger Omosede Izekor score a fine solo effort to seal a deserved 3-1 victory.

In a rematch of the Yorkshire final, the Hill House girls then came up against a strong Hymer’s side in the North-East Cup Final. A great team goal finished on the right post by Izekor and a clinical strike by Bowerman calmed the nerves, and with some outstanding defensive work by Nektaria Pericleous, Lulu Goulden, Georgie Arnold, Jessica Chalmers-Dunn and Laria Halbeisen, supported by several athletic saves by Tori Jones, the girls could enjoy the last few minutes of a 2-0 victory and the cheers of an appreciative crowd. The victory was a great reward for a very strong squad, in which players such as Rain Causier and Ellie Miah had also played key roles in earlier rounds.

The girls now move on, as North-East Champions, as one of 8 schools who will contest the National Finals in February. Director of Sport, Katie Vickers, was delighted with the day, saying: "This group is the latest in a series of highly successful teams at Hill House, and will be the sixth Hill House girls’ team to make the national finals in the last 8 years. We are very proud of them, not least because they have great strength in depth and a remarkable amount of quality in their ranks. I am also delighted for Mr Joe Barker, our recently arrived Head of Hockey, and grateful for all the hard work of him and the other hockey staff with this squad since most of them were 7 years old; they have shown again that Hill House is the school of choice for girls’ hockey in Yorkshire."