Girls Tournament – North West Thunder

North West Thunder won all four of their group games on Saturday 30th November 2019, including a closely fought 6-3 win over a strong Scotland Saltires team.

This set the girls up for a semi-final on Sunday morning against the North East Steelers which turned out to be a tough test against the eventual competition winners.

The bronze medal match saw the girls compete against their final group game opponents: Scotland Saltires. North West Thunder grabbed a 2-0 lead by half time with goals from Evie Brown and Jade Sprott. This was followed by a goal from captain Hannah Pyper and two from the North West Thunders Most Valued Player, Charlotte Pritchard in the second half.

Scotland Saltires claimed two goals to bring the score to 5-2, but this didn’t stop North West Thunder from claiming the bronze medals.

Coach of the North West Thunder Team, Alice Bryne had the following to say:

“The girls worked really hard all weekend and thoroughly deserved their bronze medals. They have a fantastic team spirit throughout the competition. The weekend was a tremendous learning curve for all the players, particularly for those who were competing at this level for the first time. It was great to see them come through two tight games and their performance showed that there is a lot of promise in the Region for future tournaments”. 

Congratulations to North West Thunder for their bronze medals.

Boys Tournament – North West Tigers

North West boys made a clean sweep of victories at their Inter-Regional competition over the weekend 7th and 8th December, scoring over 50 goals on their way to gold!

Tigers claimed their deserved gold medals over the Inter-Regional weekend in Walsall. The team announced their arrival in style defeating the East Region in their opening game 19-3. The team then won their other two group matches on Saturday, Ireland 9-3 and then East Midlands 8-3 respectively to guarantee themselves a medal on the Sunday.

A challenging games against the West Midlands team was the toughest hurdle in which they trailed 2-3 at half time before storming back to claim victory 6-3. The boys put in one last great performance defeating London 9-4 to lift the gold medal and throw their coaching staff and team managers in the gala baths!

Special mention to Tom Davis who was also awarded top goalscorer of the tournament.

Coach of the North West Tigers, Tom Gleaves had the following to say:

“A great weekend of water polo after 12 months of hard work and preparation which was evidenced in both performances and the scoreboard. I am very grateful to work with such talented and dedicated players who have the potential to have great careers in water polo.”

Congratulations to the North West Tigers for their gold medals!