Ipswich School’s under-18 girls’ indoor hockey team put in a valiant effort to finish runners-up at the National Schools Indoor Hockey Championships, at Perdiswell Leisure Centre in Worcester, at the weekend.

The team eventually had to settle for second place after losing to Repton School, from Derbyshire – winners for the previous two years – in the final.

Ipswich School won every game in the pool competition to finish top of their group, defeating South Dartmoor 5-1, Oakham 6-1, Kingston Grammar School 4-3 and Bromsgrove 3-1. Fran Tew scored 11 goals in the group stages and Hannah Martin scored five.

In the semi-finals, the team beat Coopers Company and Coborn School from Essex 3-2 with Fran Tew (2) and Mollie Fry scoring.

Ipswich started well in the final against the defending champions, but Repton scored after eight minutes. Mollie Fry levelled the scores with a goal just before half time.

Ipswich squandered some chances in the first half before Repton took advantage of their penalty corners in the second half and from one of them and scored the winner.

“The girls played fantastically well throughout the two days of the competition. Their attitude in every match was first class, and they showed a fantastic team spirit and good work ethic,” said Duncan Parnis, head of hockey at Ipswich School.

Ipswich School also had under-16 boys’ and under-16 girls’ teams competing in the national finals this weekend.

Although both teams were beaten into third place in the pool competition, they played well against stiff opposition from around the country.

Mr Parnis added: “These under-16 teams are still in top six in the country, which is still a great achievement. The girls only just missed out on the semi-finals, having won two games, plus drawing one and losing one, which is a very commendable effort. The boys’ team won two games and lost two games. Both teams have learned something which they should be able to bring to future competitions at this level.”

The outdoor national finals take place in March.