THE Mount House 1st VII travelled to Dorset to compete in the Canford School Under-13 Girls' Hockey Tournament, and came home as winners of the plate competition.

After a three-hour road journey to Wimborne, the Mount House girls were only just in time for their first group match against Port Regis, and not surprisingly lost it 0-3. With a pool of six teams, there were still four more group games to play. They went on to beat Walhampton 3-0 and Castle Court 3-1, and to lose by the odd goal to Forres Sandle Manor and All Hallows. These results qualified Mount House for the Plate Competition, which comprised four teams playing in a round-robin format.

In the three matches, the Mount House girls struck their best form, scoring steadily and maintaining clean sheets in all three to beat Knighton House 4-0, Ballard 3-0 and finally Sherborne 4-0 to secure a decisive Plate victory.

In the tournament overall, Mount House scored 18 goals and conceded just 7. Becky Manton top scored with nine. Other scorers were Romilly Carrick (4), Milly Ridgers (2), Olivia Lopes (2) and Martha Jacobs.

l MOUNT House Under-9 teams performed very well in tournaments at St Peter's Lympstone. The girls' hockey team came through their four matches unbeaten, and the boys' rugby team recovered from a tough start to win their last two games.

In their first competitive outing, the Mount House girls won their first match, against Exeter School, 1-0 with a goal from Charlotte Manton, and then beat Stover by the same score thanks to an excellent strike from Lizzie Elderfield. The defence came into their own in the other two matches, playing confidently to keep clean sheets in goalless draws, with Cecily Snow and goalkeeper Libby Hallett outstanding.

In the rugby festival, Mount House played well against a strong Blundell's team, but despite some determined defence, particularly from James Lamb, John Inglis-Jones, Alex Smith and Percy Tylor, lost the match 0-3. The second game followed a similar pattern, resulting in a 0-2 defeat to Exeter Cathedral School. A more positive performance in the next game brought a well-deserved victory against Kelly (1-0), and they continued growing in confidence in their final game to score a good 4-2 win over Stover, with some determined running from Lamb, Smith and Charles Barker.