W1 Home To Loughborough On Saturday
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Women face a doubleheader of fixtures this weekend after restoring their place at the top of the Women's Hockey League Premier Division table last weekend following their 3-1 win at Bowdon.
Loughborough Students are the visitors to Sugden Road on Saturday (push back 1330) before Surbiton travel down the M4 to Bristol to take on Clifton Robinsons on Sunday (push back 1400).
The game versus Loughborough is due to be streamed via the Surbiton Hockey Club You Tube channel here
Loughborough beat Surbiton for the first time in the Premier Division on their last visit to Elmbridge, winning 4-3 in a League Finals Pool B match before unluckily missing out on qualification for the Premier Division Finals for the first time, as eventual champions, Reading qualified alongside Surbiton, who lost out to the Berkshire club 1-0 in the final.
Surbiton won the other two meetings against the Leicestershire club, having to battle before winning 3-2 at home in October 2024 and having an easier time in the East Midlands, prevailing 5-0 in March 2025.
Loughborough are in sixth place, having ended Hampstead & Westminster's one hundred per cent record last Saturday as Amy Cradden converted a last gasp penalty corner to earn a point in a 2-2 draw on home turf.
Cradden and former Reading player Mia Moore have both scored twice this season with Hannah Boss, Olivia Breed, Jess Dyson and Lucy Mackey all having scored once.
Dyson and Pippi Spawforth both return to Surbiton for the opposing team while gaining invaluable top-flight experience with the University club.
Loughborough started the season with a bang winning 5-1 at the University of Nottingham before slipping to a 1-0 home defeat to the University of Birmingham. They then ground out a 1-0 home win over Barnes before drawing 0-0 at Wimbledon, the first time that there had been a goalless draw in the Premier Division since Loughborough drew 0-0 at Wimbledon in September 2023.
Meanwhile, Surbiton will aim to stay top of the table, having gone above Hampstead & Westminster on goal difference. Darcy Bourne and Erica Sanders are the joint top scorers in the Premier Division with six goals, closely followed by East Grinstead's Biba Mills and University of Birmingham's Coca Hall on five goals.
Georgie Gardens scored her first goal in Surbiton colours to seal the 3-1 win at Bowdon last Saturday as Isy Key and Monica Alcover became the latest players to make their first team debuts.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Hampstead host Durham University; third-place Reading are at home to Bowdon; fourth-placed East Grinstead welcome the University of Nottingham to Saint Hill; fifth-placed Wimbledon take on Clifton Robinsons and Barnes will hope to get their first points at the University of Birmingham.