Liverpool, West London Penguin, Exeter and Caledonia to battle it out for medals
City of Liverpool, West London Penguin, Exeter and Caledonia will contest tomorrow’s medal matches after an exciting group stage at the GoCardless Swim England Female U15 National Age Group Championships.
Last year’s finalists, Liverpool and West London Penguin, both secured 100% records to top their respective groups with Exeter and Caledonia putting in some strong performances to finish as group runners up.
It means that Liverpool will take on the Scottish side tomorrow whilst Exeter will face Penguin in tomorrow’s crossovers to decide the medal matches.
The defending champions, City of Liverpool, kicked off the day in Group A with an excellent 13-3 victory over Exeter.
Alice Bryne’s side started off strongly and never looked back with Sophie Freeman, Francesca Horrobin and Jess Watson all netting inside the opening quarter to give the Merseysiders an early lead.
From then on, their strong defence didn’t allow Exeter the opportunity to get back into the game with Watson adding three more to her total whilst Nieve Folkes also grabbed a hat trick to complete the win.
They then continued their dominance over Group A with convincing victories against Croydon Amphibians (16-2), Rotherham Metro (12-2) and Beckenham (16-5) to end the day with a maximum 12 points from 12.
Exeter recovered from their early defeat to pick up three consecutive wins to finish in second place and put themselves in the hunt for a medal tomorrow.
They put in two battling performances to come out on top in close contests with both Rotherham and Beckenham.
First, they took on the Yorkshire based side where they held off a late fightback to come away with an 8-5 win.
All the hard work came in the first half after a fast start put them into a 6-2 lead at the halfway point.
Three goals from Molly Dean, two from Kate James and one from Lottie Smith gave them the advantage before Rotherham responded well in the third.
They tightened up at the back, keeping Exeter at bay after and grabbing one back through Ellen Henry.
Henry got two more in the final quarter to complete her hat trick but Dean and Smith both added one each late on to secure the win for Exeter.
A back-and-forth contest with Beckenham followed with Exeter coming out 15-12 winners.
After an even opening period, Exeter took control in the second to move into an 8-5 lead at half time.
And it was that period that told with the teams firing back goal for goal in the final two quarters as Beckenham held on to their narrow margin.
Rotherham Metro finished in third place, thanks to their 10-5 defeat of Beckenham, and a strong win over Croydon Amphibians. Beckenham were fourth after defeating Croydon 16-9.
Penguin looking to avenge last year’s final defeat
West London Penguin were in fine form in front of goal as they went on to claim four wins from four.
They topped Group B ahead of Caledonia and Cheltenham – who duelled it out for second place.
But it was Penguin who looked in unbeatable form, scoring 69 goals in four games on their way to top spot.
They began their campaign in the groups opening match where they put overcame last year’s bronze medallists Worthing in some style, running away with 27-3 victory.
Caledonia were the only side to stop them getting into double figures, putting up a big fight as Penguin came through their toughest test with a 9-2 scoreline.
Penguin went on to make it four from four, collecting two more wins against Tyldesley (18-3) and Cheltenham (15-3).
Manpreet Gill led the scoring charts for Penguin – and the entire competition so far – after the opening day. She scored a stunning 27 goals across four games as she looks to add to her MVP award from this competition 12 months ago.
Caledonia and Cheltenham swapped positions throughout the day in the battle for second.
Cheltenham held that spot early after recording an 8-2 win to start off the day against Tyldesley.
Sophia Kania led her team with three goals whilst Alice Ross grabbed a brace and Pippa Forrest, Martha Perkins and Edith Clarke completed the scoring.
However, they then suffered that defeat to Penguin before losing the deciding game with Caledonia.
It was the opening quarter where the Scottish side were too strong as Ksenia Mann, Ava Thornton and Hali Farah powered their side into a 4-1 lead.
They backed that up in the second and third as Mann took his total in the game to four whilst Kayla Da Silva Reeve, Alisa Duncan and Eleanor Campbell extended their lead to five at 9-4.
The Gloucestershire outfit fought back in the final quarter but could only reduce the deficit to three as the game ended 9-6.
Cheltenham bounced back to beat Worthing 20-4 in their final match but Caledonia held their nerve to record 18-12 and 22-5 wins against Tyldesley and Worthing respectively to close out the group in second spot.
It meant that Cheltenham finished third with Tyldesley fourth and Worthing in fifth after the Lancashire based side defeated Worthing 14-9.
Make sure to follow tomorrow’s action
An exciting day tomorrow is in store as we crown our national age group champions.
In the crossover matches, Liverpool face Caledonia and Exeter take on West London Penguin to decide who will play in the gold and bronze medal matches respectively.
Rotherham face Tyldesley and Beckenham lock horns with Cheltenham in the crossovers before they play for fifth to eighth places.
And Worthing battle Croydon in the ninth-place playoff. Action from finals day gets underway at 9:45am on Sunday 3 November 2024 at the Alan Higgs Centre with tickets available on venue.
If you can’t make it to Coventry, you can keep up with all of the action by following our live scoreboard via this link and by following Swim England’s social media channels for regular updates throughout the day.
Images: Will Johnston Photography
