Big guns flex muscles at Balling Festival
Free State powerhouses, Eunice and Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje were unbeaten after Friday’s action at the Balling Hockey Festival in Bethlehem.
The festival kicked off with two games on Thursday and then hit full throttle on Friday, with 10 matches being played at the Voortrekker Astro and New Horizon College.
On Thursday evening, St Anne’s recorded a narrow 3-2 victory over the hosts, Voortrekker, after an entertaining end-to-end encounter that offered spectators insight into what to expect over the next three days.
The Wykeham Collegiate (TWC) registered their first victory of the festival, shortly afterwards, with a 4-2 win over Union High School.
Coach Morne Odendaal believes his St Anne’s side is on a path to becoming one of the best teams in the country and they showed their intentions to achieve that status with a second win in as many matches when they overcame Sasolburg 2-0. They were aiming to make it three in three. However, they ran into an inspired Oranje outfit and went down 0-1.
Oranje’s victory over St Anne’s came on the back of a high-scoring 5-3 win over Menlopark as Gys van Schalkwyk‘s charges opened with successive victories.
Eunice enjoyed their Friday outings, scoring four goals and conceding none. Coach Nika Coertzen’s side produced polished performances against TWC and St John’s DSG, winning those contests 3-0 and 1-0 respectively.
Menlopark was given a good run for their money when they took on St Mary’s DSG Kloof. They bounced back from their defeat against Oranje to emerge with a 3-2 win from a hotly contested afternoon clash. The Pretoria school showed their mettle by hanging on to win despite successive games against two top-ranked outfits.
Voortrekker bounced back from their loss to St Anne’s in the festival opener and held their own when they went up against Noordheuwel and Our Lady of Fatima, with both matches finishing in 1-1 draws. They will be eager to improve on those showings to give their supporters something to cheer when they go up against Menlopark on Saturday.
Spectators can also look forward to a mouthwatering contest between Eunice and St Mary’s Kloof on Saturday morning.
RESULTS
Thursday
St Anne’s 3-2 Voortrekker
TWC 4–2 Union
Friday
Witteberg 4-1 Union
St Anne’s 2-0 Sasolburg
Eunice 3-0 TWC
Oranje 5-3 Menlopark
Oranje 2nd XI 2-2 St Dominic’s
Goudveld 0-8 St John’s DSG
Noordheuwel 1-1 Voortrekker
Oranje 1-0 St Anne’s
St Mary’s Kloof 2-3 Menlopark
Monument 0-1 TWC
Our Lady of Fatima 1-1 Voortrekker
Eunice 1-0 St John’s DSG
Fixtures
Saturday, 1 March
06:30 – St Anne’s vs Goudveld
07:25 – Sasolburg vs St Dominic’s Boksburg
08:20 – Oranje 1 vs St John’s
09:15 – Eunice vs St Mary’s DSG Kloof
10:10 – Our Lady of Fatima vs Monument
11:05 – TWC vs Goudveld
12:00 – Voortrekker vs Menlopark
12:00 – Orange 2 vs Union (New Horizon)
12:55 – Noordheuwel vs Witteberg
12:00 – Oranje 2 vs Union
13:50 – Eunice vs Our Lady of Fatima
14:25 – Goudveld vs Sasolburg (New Horizon)
14:45 – St John’s DSG vs Menlopark
15:40 – Monument vs Oranje 1
16:35 – BVHS vs TWC
16:50 – Witteberg vs St Dominic’s Boksburg (New Horizon)
17:30 – Noordheuwel vs St Mary’s Kloof
Sunday, 2 March
06:30 – Union vs St Dominic’s Boksburg
06:30 – Oranje 2 vs Witteberg (New Horizon)
08:10 – Our Lady of Fatima vs Oranje 1
09:05 – Sasolburg vs Monument
10:00 – St Dominic’s vs St John’s
10:55 – Eunice vs Noordheuwel
11:50 – TWC vs Menlopark
12:45 – Oranje 1 vs St Mary’s Kloof
14:25 – Oranje 2 vs Goudveld
Two age group events – u14 and u16 – will be run concurrently with the u19 competition with most matches being played at New Horizon College.
