OF Tess Howard Scores Hat Trick In EuroHockey Championships Against Scotland

Published by St Faith's, Cambridge on Wednesday 23rd of August 2023

The opening stages of the match were tight as they were expected to be in any England v Scotland match but it was England that secured the first penalty corner but Grace Balsdon's shot went just wide.

The England team had the majority of the possession for the first quarter and in the closing minutes, Tess Howard had a shot on target which was saved by Scotland's goalkeeper Amy Gibson and the rebound shot by Sophie Hamilton went wide.

In the first minute of the second quarter, Howard broke free on a pass from Ellie Rayer and went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and slotted the ball home to break the deadlock and secure England’s first goal.

They continued to dominate possession through the second quarter and got their fourth penalty corner in the final two minutes which Balsdon managed to get passed Gibson to double England’s lead and entered half time with a 2-0 lead.

The English team pressure continued in the third quarter but were reduced to 10 players when Lily Owsley got a green card. Scotland were threatening in England’s D in the 36th minute but Laura Roper utilised her experience to force an error and get the ball back for England.

The 43rd minute saw Charlotte Watson forcing Sabbie Heesh to make her first save of the game with an attempt that zipped towards goal and Roper picked the ball up and ran into Scotland’s box before passing to Holly Hunt and the ball was blocked by the goalkeeper which was seen as an obstruction and led to England’s sixth penalty corner.

Balsdon scored England’s third goal of the game with an excellent strike from the corner. She fired passed