Kingston’s women’s hockey team shipped six goals as they were dumped out of the cup by Surrey’s first team at Surbiton Hockey Club on Wednesday afternoon.
Last year’s runners-up were 6-1 winners in the South Eastern Conference Cup, leaving the Cougars thinking of what might have been.
“I think we defended really well,” Kingston captain Hannah Denison said.
“They were much fitter and quicker than us, and we should have allowed them more space.
“But we know what we need to do in training now.”
A harsh scoreline
Although the scoreline was emphatic, the match was far more even with one side taking the chances presented to them.
The match got off to a frantic start with both Surrey and Kingston taking multiple shots and conceding short corners in the first 10 minutes.
But it was Surrey who broke the deadlock on the eighth minute as Lucy Woodworth broke through the home defence before rounding the goalkeeper to tap home the opener.
Kingston’s reply was strong though.
Denison’s strong dribble from the halfway line won the Cougars a short corner after her shot struck a Surrey foot.
But Ellie Skelton’s delivery couldn’t be brought under control and the chance had gone.
Clinical Surrey
It was a chance that Kingston were made to rue five minutes later as the Surrey team doubled their lead from a short corner of their own.
Taz Uruquhart’s pull back was worked well to Woodworth, whose hard pass was tapped home by Becky Williams to make it 2-0.
On the 16th minute it was 3-0, as a flowing Surrey counter attack found its way to Wialliams on the right hand side of the shooting circle.
A stroke of luck?
Only Williams herself will know if she meant to cross or shoot, but whatever it was squirmed past Beth Goodcliffe in the Kingston goal.
Kingston however were back in the game two minutes after the restart.
A short corner by Denison found Olivia Bunni, who fired a pass back to the KU captain to scramble home to make it 3-1.
Denison thought she might have doubled her tally for the day moments later as her shot found the target, only for the referee to pull the play back for an earlier foul on a Surrey player.
The sucker punch
But there was just time for the visitors to pull further away before half time, as Woodworth claimed her second of the game, lashing the ball passed Goodcliffe and into the net with minutes to go before half time.
Kingston would have felt hard done by to be three goals down at the break, but the visitor’s ruthlessness in front of goal had made the difference.
As the second half kicked off, the wind intensified, whipping leaves and debris onto the pitch.
Denison came close to narrowing the gap again at the start of the second half after a strong run, but her shot rolled narrowly wide of the post.
Just as the Cougars were beginning to build some momentum, Surrey scored their fifth of the game.
A tap in
On the 39th minute Roberts’ cross wasn’t cleared and bounced around the Kingston area before Sarah Ross finally tapped the ball over the line at the back post to make it 5-1.
After that the game largely petered out, as Kingston saw no route back into the game and Surrey took their foot off the gas.
But there was time for one more goal for the visitors, as Uruquhart slotted home after a brilliant run to make it 6-1.
“As we were defending for large parts of the game our forwards didn’t stay high so we never had that outlet upfront when we would breakaway after defending,” Denison said.
Konstantinos Patas