Eastbourne College under-18s girls have continued their dominance in Sussex.

They clinched the county cup for the third year in a row with a series of impressive performances.

The independent school emerged unbeaten from their group in the annual tournament at Saffrons and Beresford in Eastbourne before beating St Bede's and Seaford College in the knockout stages.

It completed a memorable hat-trick for the prestigious school who now hold the under-18, under-16 and under-14 titles simultaneously for the first time.

Housemaster David Miller, who runs the boys and girls first XIs, said: "It is a tremendous achievement. Girls have been playing hockey at the school since the Seventies and we pride ourselves on our reputation for sporting excellence.

"It is credit to the pupils and coaching staff at the school that we are successful. The coaches all teach other subjects but they make time to work on the hockey pitch.

"It is great fun working with the boys and girls. They all seem to enjoy playing and it has got to the stage where if we don't have a match, then everybody is disappointed."

The under-18 side beat St Bede's 1-0 on astroturf in the semi-finals with a goal from England international Sophy Mills and Hollie Gosden scored the only goal in the final against Seaford to clinch the trophy.

The victors will now go on to represent the county in the regional round at Surbiton hockey club later this month.

St Bede's haven't let their East Sussex rivals have things completely their own way.

They beat them 4-2 at Eastbourne's home ground last week in a friendly.

Captain Vicky Newton opened the scoring in the early stages and added another goal to help her side lead 2-0 at the break.

Eastbourne College pulled a goal back before Newton completed her hat-trick. Siobhan Davis netted a fourth after inter-play between Dilly Newton and the skipper enabled her to deflect the ball in. College pulled another goal back but Miller admitted his side, who were missing several key players, were not up to their usual high standards.

He said: "Although it was a friendly, it turned out to be most unfriendly. We only arrived back from half-term the day before and were missing four players.

"We hadn't played for two and a half weeks and my girls didn't see it as a big fixture. We weren't up for it as much as them and they surprised us with the quality of their play."

Eastbourne College squad: Kate West, Harriet Wilcock, Jenny Hylton, Abi Orr, Sophy Mills, Amelia Ng, Kirsty Carr, Alice Cooke, Ellie Robinson, Angharad Davies, Hollie Gosden, Jude Hall, Carla Mendoza, Georgina Lucy, Sarah Johnstone, Jenny Webborn, Caroline Wharton and Bella Stewart.

Sussex under-15s, under-16s and under-19s were in action over the weekend.

The under-15s played at Hurstpierpoint College where they beat Berks 6-0 with goals from Jon Monk and Peter Bell (Brighton College), Andy Kline (South Saxons), Jon Haynes (East Grinstead) and a brace from Tom Gogarty (Hurstpierpoint College). The under-15s also lost 1-0 to Middlesex.

The under-16s had a successful day with a 3-0 win against Berks, courtesy of goals from Ralph Veltom (Chichester), David Chanter (Brighton College) and George Martin (Ardingly College).

Middlesex were beaten 5-3, thanks to goals from Sam Rose (Brighton) and Ed Miller (Eastbourne College).

The under-19s beat Middlesex 4-0 at Wellington College with strikes from Donal Aherne (Chichester), Tom Harrison (Hurst) and Jack Lerwill (Chichester).