Oranje remains the only unbeaten team at Balling Festival
One of South Africa’s established hockey powerhouses, Oranje, has kicked off their hockey preseason with a bang. The Bloemfontein school remains the only unbeaten side at the Balling Hockey Festival in Bethlehem.
The festival, which is being played on the Voortrekker Astro and at New Horizon College, kicked off with two games on Thursday, 10 were played on Friday, and another 16 were contested on Saturday.
In Saturday’s action, Oranje added two more victories to their tally from day two, which included defeats of Menlopark and St Anne’s, with emphatic wins of 3-0 over St John’s DSG and 4-0 over Monument.
Monument, on the other hand, did not have a great day three. They lost 0-3 to Our Lady of Fatima in their other match. The ladies from Krugersdorp will hope to put in a better performance on Sunday in their last outing against Sasolburg.
Our Lady of Fatima was unable to carry their winning form into their next tie, going 1-2 down to a resurgent Eunice side that bounced back from a 0-2 loss to St Mary’s DSG in their morning fixture. The ladies from Kloof went on to record another victory, beating Noordheuwel 5-2 late in the day.
Coach Morne Odendaal’s St Anne’s team had only one match on Saturday, and they came away with a 2-0 win over Goudveld. The Welkom school also fell to Sasolburg and The Wykeham Collegiate (TWC), going down 1-2 in both of those matches.
Menlopark had mixed fortunes on day three, drawing one and winning one. They inflicted a 4-0 defeat on the hosts, Voortrekker, but were then held to a 1-1 draw by St John’s DSG.
The final day of the festival has some exciting matches in store, including a mouthwatering clash between Oranje and St Mary’s, two of the top teams at last year’s Fairtree Super 12 tournament.
RESULTS
St Anne’s 2-0 Goudveld
Sasolburg 2-2 St Dominic’s
Oranje 1st team 3-0 St John’s DSG
Eunice 0-2 St Mary’s Kloof
Our Lady of Fatima 3-0 Monument
Oranje 2nds 1-0 Union High
TWC 2-1 Goudveld
Voortrekker 0-4 Menlopark
Noordheuwel 4-2 Witteberg
Eunice 2-1 Our Lady of Fatima
Goudveld 1-2 Sasolburg
St John’s DSG 1-1 Menlopark
Oranje 1sts 4-0 Monument
Voortrekker 5-1 TWC
Witteberg 1-3 St Dominic’s
Noordheuwel 2-5 St Mary’s Kloof.
Sunday, 2 March
6:30 – Union vs St Dominic’s
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
