In the week leading up to the league finals, Reading captain Lucie Daman posted on Instagram:

“Same club, different group of legends. Very excited to be back at finals weekend with Reading 12 years later.”

The photo shows a young, up-and-coming Daman in the Reading line-up with amongst others, Sam Quek and Kate Richardson-Walsh, from the last time the side from Sonning Lane won the title in 2013.

A lot of time has passed since then. Daman has been away to university, won the BUCS title three times, represented the University of Iowa (at both rowing and hockey), and come back to the club. Reading have dropped out of the Premier Division and come back, and now, after a dramatic weekend, Daman has come full circle and won the title once again.

“To be honest, I think that it hasn’t actually really sunk in.” she says.

“I think it probably will in the next few months when I really stop to think about it. I was here 12 years ago and had some amazing people around me and I’ve got some amazing people around me this time around as well.”

The atmosphere in the Reading camp is one of unity, of a team that loves to play together and works hard for each other. It is clear to see they are a close-knit group from the way they interact off the field and the steely determination and will to win they showed on the field this weekend.

In their semi-final they conceded four minutes from time against Hampstead and Westminster, but they showed their resilience to pick themselves up off the canvas and win in the pressure cooker of the shootout. In the final, they were ahead from the 25th minute after a stunning Emma Findlay strike and against Surbiton, the league’s top scorers, they dug in and kept the clean sheet that ultimately earned them the title.

Daman puts that resilience down to the work done behind the scenes by coach, Rob Foxall-Smith:

“Throughout the season we have put a lot of effort into being ready for everything. You know you can’t always be perfect, things will happen, but Rob does a lot of work, a lot of prep and puts us in a good position to be able to come out and just perform how we want to and do what we want to do.”

Not only did she get to lift the title again, this time Daman did it as captain:

“Being captain of such a great group of people, good hockey players but a good group as well it’s really special to be honest. It’s just really cool for the club to be back at finals and competing at this level.”

As we started this article with the words from a post from Daman’s Instagram, it seems fitting that we’d end it that way too. Her post after the final reads:

“Proud is an understatement. Premier League Champions 24//25.”