BSN win record 8th ISST Hockey title in a row!

The BSN had the privilege of hosting the 2017 ISST Hockey tournament which took place on the 10^th and 11^th of November and was held at MHC Forescate in Voorschoten. A total of 5 schools took part in the tournament with the BSN going into the competition as defending champions and favourites, having won the last 7 in a row. One could forgive new coach Hein for thinking that the pressure was on.

The tournament started off well in glorious sunshine and there were some early and big wins for both the International School of the Hague (ISH) and the BSN. On the other end of the spectrum, BSB and ASL were finding the level of competition quite challenging, but both schools continued to produce some spirited performance and even managed to share the points (1-1) in their head to head match. After 5 hard fought games, both the BSN and ISH remained unbeaten and both headed into the final day with high hopes of taking the title the next day. Poor ISB were unlucky enough to draw both of the favourites in their first two games and ended up on the receiving end of some clinical finishing by both teams, ending the day in last place.

As the day drew to a close, there were signs the weather was starting to turn and everyone wondered how the 2^nd day of competition would go. Could ISB turn their fortunes around and would the BSN or ISH drop any points before their much awaited head to head match at the end of the day.

As day 2 arrived, so too did the rain. This did not deter the girls however, and there were big wins for ISB, ISH and the BSN. ISB went on to win their final game, taking them into an unassailable third place, but all eyes were on the final game, where the BSN and ISH were tied at 4 wins a piece as they headed into the decider. While it may have been clear who was going to be filling the top two steps on the podium, what was not clear was who would occupy the top step!

The game started with both teams lining up side by side as they took to the pitch in a very professional and serious fashion, there was clearly a lot of pride and honour at stake with anxiety running high in both camps. There was a tense but purposeful start to the game, but it soon became evident which of the two teams was the more finely tuned machine… the BSN scoring within the first 10 minutes. Could ISH respond, sadly no… the BSN went on to score their 2^nd and 3^rd soon afterwards and headed into half time with a commanding 4-0 lead. ISH managed to tighten up their defenses nicely in the second half and did well to contain what had been a rampant BSN team in the first half. What they needed however was for their forwards to breach the impenetrable defense of the BSN backs, something they unfortunately were unable to do.

The game ended 4-0 and BSN were worthy winners, playing without a doubt some of the highest quality of Hockey throughout! Their efforts earned them an unprecedented 8^th Championship title in a row and one cannot help but feel that a double figure tally of championships must now surely be on the minds of many of the younger players.

Congratulations to Michelize van Heerden, Lauren Cooper, Molly Edwards and Maisie Oxlade for being selected for the 2017 All Tournament team!

View our pictures of the tournament on our FLICKR