SIXTEEN Year 8 and Year 10 girls from St Joseph’s School travelled to LVS Ascot for the first ever ISA Girls’ Football Festival to celebrate the ‘FA Girls Football Week’ on Thursday, October 13. The aim of the festival was to enjoy the football experience and develop skills – something that St Joseph’s girls most certainly achieved!

The teams were a little apprehensive at the beginning of the festival about the competition that lay ahead, as this was the first ever experience of competitive football for most of the girls.

However, with a victory for both in their first matches their skill level and confidence began to soar, something that continued throughout the day.

The U13s came second in their first group stage, and went through to the cup round (the top round for the final stage). They played in a nail-biting semi-final and went through to the final by winning on sudden death penalties. They then worked extremely hard and went into extra-time after a 0-0 draw. Unfortunately, they conceded a last minute goal and lost 1-0 to come second place overall out of 12 teams.

The U15s were very successful in their group stages and went through to the cup round as group winners without any defeats in their first four matches. They won their semi-final and had a very competitive final against tough opposition, managing to grab a goal to win the overall tournament for their age group. There were 15 teams in their age group.

A St Joseph’s School spokesperson said: “It cannot be emphasised enough the development of both their skill level and understanding of the game over the day. Both teams demonstrated some excellent attacking and defensive play with a variety of goal scorers and some brave performances in goal.

A huge well done to all those involved.”