Second season offers big opportunities for Loughborough duo

Loughborough believe they are top six material as league split race hots up, reports Rod Gilmour of The Hockey Paper.

The turnover of players at university sides is a seasonal difficulty for those in the Premier Division. Loughborough Students also saw a change of coach for this season, coupled with a squad turnover. For Becca Malyon and Maddie Goodman, two such players who now have seasons under their belts in the Vitality Women’s Premier Division, they are beginning to revel in the student set-up.

Malyon and Goodman (pictured above on Wales duty) were on the scoresheet as Loughborough beat in-form Clifton Robinsons 3-1 last weekend. Ahead of their meeting on Saturday against Buckingham in England Hockey's Match of the Weekend, the Students are five points off the top six, with five matches remaining before the league split is decided.

“We started on the right foot and they didn't get into the game until the second half,” Malyon said of the Clifton victory. “It’s been hard, pretty much all our first XI left and only seven in the performance squad stayed. It meant we had a whole new squad, with freshers and players up from the 2s. It's difficult getting to know a new structure, but it’s a whole new slate rather than people trying to get to know the system.”

This summer saw Jamie Cachia, a former Scottish international goalkeeper, take over from long-serving coach Brett Holland, who joined England Hockey as an under-21 and EDP coach.

“Jamie has added a new dynamic to the team and it’s been different to Brett. We know when we need to step up. He brings in a new press and it’s a totally different style of hockey.”

Malyon, who has moved from Beeston, is into her second year at Loughborough. She has already endured a long journey to be a mainstay in the squad after contracting glandular fever just before an England under-18 international.

“Before we went into lockdown I was on my way to my first game against Ireland and I got a call saying I had tested positive for glandular fever. Luckily, I didn’t miss out on much with restrictions but I then got Covid within two weeks when the league was back.”

Malyon only managed to be picked when the squad suffered injuries. Such was the strength of the Students, with the likes of Charlotte Watson and Izzy Petter in the forward lines.

“Coming on the back of all the illness and coming into a new club I didn't have much to go on and I had to prove myself,” she admitted.

Malyon, who turns 20 next month, had previously worked with Cachia when the duo were at Oakham School so had an advantage in some of the processes. “I’ve definitely worked on my development stage last year when I was a fresher and now I’ve worked my way up and I’m enjoying myself more.”

Meanwhile, former Bowdon Hightown player Goodman is currently in her placement year at Jaguar Land Rover working in the design studio. A former Hockey Writers' Club U16 player of the year, she has enjoyed a breakthrough year after she was called up to the Welsh under-21 squad for the Junior World Cup before making her Wales senior debut in August at the EuroHockey qualifiers in Durham.

She said: “It’s been a great experience to play with some big names. It was a bit of a surprise but something I’m looking forward to continuing in the next few years.”

Like her team-mate Malyon, the club to university set-up transition took some time. “It was a big change to what I was used to; how often we train, how many coaches we have, the facilities we have access to,” she admitted. “It was a ‘wow’ and surreal moment. Now, it’s something I take for granted and you don’t realise that not everyone has that kind of facility anymore.”

Goodman has “embraced” the environment and one reason why she undertook her placement year was to stay with the Loughborough programme. She said: “If you go to a different Premier Division side you don’t necessarily get all the add-ons you would get here.”

This includes training three times per week, in the gym twice per week, along with physio and stretching sessions. “We are together pretty much 24/7 and it’s something you don't really get to experience once you've left university,” said Goodman. “With lots of new faces we have got to know each other already and the intense training is paying off on the pitch.”

And then there is the coaching transition. “From Brett, a really enthusiastic coach who loves hockey, to getting Jamie on board, who is equally enthusiastic,” added Goodman.

“After a couple of months, what he has done is clearly working. Coming away from Wimbledon with a point [after a 2-2 draw in their second game] started our season. We could build from that moment and it’s had an effect. We’ve got a big couple of weeks now, with teams fighting for the top six. Selection is becoming more competitive and it’s a really interesting period for us.”

After opening up with the challenge of Surbiton, Wimbledon and East Grinstead, Malyon says the final five games before the Christmas break are crucial. “We are looking to win every game from here and hopefully it will go our way,” she concluded.

Saturday: Loughborough Students v Buckingham, 2pm