England's under 18 Girls managed to secure a bronze medal in the EuroHockey Youth Nations Championships in Nivelles, Belgium, over the weekend.
England had lost their semi final match against The Netherlands on Friday, with the Dutch girls scoring three in the first fifteen minutes. Kate Maxey was able to pull one back from a penalty corner in the 22nd minute but that was to be England's only goal in a match that ended 4-1 in favour of the Dutch.
Meeting Belgium in the bronze medal game on Saturday, the match remained at 0-0 until England were awarded a penalty stroke three minutes before half time. The penalty was converted by Rebecca Dru. Alice Sharp made it two for England from a penalty corner 12 minutes into the second half, and although Belgium looked as if they might make a late comeback, they were unable to capitalise on Florence Deley's 60th minute goal. Final score 2-1 to England.
The Netherlands beat Germany 6-3 in the final to take the Championships.
The boys had less luck. Playing Belgium in the semi-finals, England fell to the shooting talents of Matthew Cobbaert, who scored four times in open play. Although Nick Giles opened the scoring for England, they were 6-2 down after 59 minutes. Despite staging a late rally, with Domic Bowdon scoring a second and Jonny Kinder scoring the last goal of the match, England could not claw their way back into the game and went down to a final score of 6-4.
England faced disappointment in their bronze medal match against the Dutch, after Aathavan Lingeswaran equalised for England early in the second half. England clung on to the 1-1 scoreline but eventually lost 2-1 after only two minutes of golden goal extra time.
Belgium eventually won the tournament by beating Germany 3-2 in the final. Scotland finished seventh and are relegated to the Trophy competition when it is next held (2011).
