Cambridge hosted the South Midlands Korfball Preliminary round on Sunday 22nd November. Unfortunately, Westminster didn’t manage to organise a team for the day so had to drop out. This left Cambridge 1, Cambridge 2, Bedford 1 and De Montfort 1 to play the round robin tournament in order to determine their seeding for Regionals. The first match was between Cambridge 1 and De Montfort. De Montfort started well and took an early lead, but Cambridge eventually took control and moved on to a comfortable 14-4 win. The second match was between Cambridge 2 and Bedford. Unfortunately, Bedford had to play with seven players due to a last minute injury. It was a close game with a few lead changes, but Cambridge 2 came out on top with a 10-6 victory. Following this, Cambridge 1 played Cambridge 2, with Cambridge 1 winning 18-2. Next, Bedford and De Montfort played a high scoring game, which Bedford won 17-9. The highlight would definitely be a ‘buzzer beater’ goal from half way by Karla Pinney for Bedford.

With four of the six matches completed, none of the places had yet been decided. The penultimate match was between Cambridge 2 and De Montfort. It was the closest match of the day, with Cambridge taking an early lead, De Montfort coming back to lead 5-4, and finally Cambridge tying the game at the end 5-5. Finally, Cambridge 1 played Bedford. Once again, this was a comfortable victory for Cambridge, with the final score being 20-2. Overall, the final results were: 1st Cambridge 1, 2nd Cambridge 2, 3rd Bedford 1, 4th De Montfort 1. Karla Pinney (Bedford) and Justyna Mancewicz (De Montfort) were joint top girl goal scorers, with 6 goals each. Ollie Bell (Cambridge 1) and Joe Pengelly (Cambridge 1) were joint top boy goal scorers, both with 11. The overall girl MVP was Karla Pinney (Bedford) who played exceptionally well as the only girl in the division of 3 players. The overall boy MVP was Joe Pengelly (Cambridge 1) for not only his scoring, but also his great work in defence.  

Overall, it was a great tournament and we look forward to the Regional round in January.