U11 Football – National Trust Cup Oxford round
On Thursday 14th November, our U11 Girls Football team travelled to Oxford City Football Club to take part in the National Trust Cup – Oxford round.
The winners of the event are given the honour of representing Oxford City in the regional round. The School has had previous success at the contest, winning in 2021 and 2022.
Headington Rye was pitted in Group C against four other schools. The results were as follows:
Headington Rye 2 – Cumnor Primary 0
Headington Rye 0 – St Mary and St John Primary 0
Headington Rye 5 – Wood Farm Primary 0
Headington Rye 1 – St Nicholas Primary 1
This put the team on eight points, staying unbeaten in the group phase and second place in the group, only missing out on top spot on goal difference.
There were many outstanding individual performances in the group phase. Kitty put in an all action performance against Cumnor, scoring a brace. Merope and Gwen formed a good defensive partnership, securing two clean sheets.
Dana scored a hattrick and Bea a brace against Wood Farm. Eseld demonstrated excellent distribution and goalkeeping skills whilst Imi and Martha added attacking threat and defensive security in the closer fought games.
In the quarter finals, the team were drawn against Windmill. Headington Rye took a 1-0 lead thanks to a fabulous strike from Bea. The girls nearly held on for the win before Windmill equalised at the death!
The game went to penalties and despite two saves from Eseld, lost the shoot-out 2-1 after sudden death.
The team can be incredibly proud of their performance and excellent sportsmanship throughout the day. We look forward to more matches later this season.
