CITY OF YORK Hockey Club's Under-14 girls team have been crowned Yorkshire champions.

They showed their strength in depth when their depleted side, missing three players on North of England duty, won the Yorkshire Youth League finals day competition.

Not everything went their way in the group stages but they battled their way through to the final where they beat Ben Rhydding on penalty flicks.

York opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Leeds Metro with goals from Judith Evans and Laura Horne, who collected a fine clearance by sweeper Hannah Longster and raced 30 yards with the ball to blast home.

Horne was also prominent in the second group game, scoring four times in the 5-0 thrashing of Wakefield. Evans netting the other York goal.

With a semi-final place assured, York eased off in their final group game and lost 3-0 to Harrogate, who topped the group.

In the semi-finals, York edged out Kingston-upon-Hull 1-0. Lydia Onyett, Annabel Pring and Sarah Hawtree played well in defence and York took their chance at a short corner as Anna Ramli set up Evans for the winner.

Another short corner routine saw Evans give York the lead in the final against Ben Rhydding, but the Ilkley-based side levelled ten minutes from time to take the match into a penalty shoot-out.

Horne, Lauren Grant and Ramli converted their shots while goalkeeper Natalie Lockhart prevented Rhydding from scoring from their first three attempts.

The U14 York boys team could not emulate the girls and didn't get through the group stages of their play-offs.

They began well with a 1-0 win over Halifax courtesy of Stuart Burke's late goal.

But they were second best after that, losing 4-1 to Sheffield Hallam, which meant they would have to beat Ben Rhydding to qualify for the semi-finals.

Burke gave York the lead but Ben Rhydding equalised after a penalty corner and snatched the winner with just seconds left.

Updated: 09:45 Tuesday, April 27, 2004