Affies triumphs in Plate final with penalty shootout win over Clarendon
In a thrilling conclusion to the Plate competition at the St Mary’s Waverley Hockey Festival, Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool (Affies) held off Clarendon High School for Girls to claim the title after a hard-fought 2-1 penalty shootout win.
Both sides started the tournament slowly. In the first pool stage, Affies finished in fifth spot in Pool B after winning three of their seven matches, while Clarendon, in Pool C, also placed fifth, with a similar record.
On Friday and Saturday, in the second round of lower-ranking pool games, both sides reversed their fortunes, with Affies going three for three and Clarendon winning two and drawing another.
Affies edged out both Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School and Pretoria High School for Girls 1-0 before scoring an impressive 3-0 win over St Stithians College.
Clarendon paved their route to the Plate final with a convincing 3-0 over Windhoek High School, which they followed with a narrow 1-0 victory over Roedean School and a goalless draw against St Andrew’s School for Girls.
The final was a closely contested affair, as many of the playoff matches proved to be, bringing evenly matched teams together.
The game was fiercely contested, but neither side was able to break the deadlock during regular time. That meant the pressure was dialled up for the penalty shootout, but Affies held their nerve to secure the win, thanks to their goalkeeper, Cara Bouwer, who pulled off a crucial save.
Cara Knott, the captain of Clarendon, took the first penalty and scored, but Mia Pretorius delivered a fine response, making it look easy by scoring in style in the bottom left corner.
Next up for coach Luaan Sedras‘s Clarendon side was Caroline Kretzmann. This time Bouwer reacted superbly to deny Kretzmann’s attempt. When Anouk du Plessis found the back of the net for Affies, she doubled their advantage.
Holly McClure handled Clarendon’s third penalty. She fired off a shot, but it struck the goalkeeper’s leg. McClure took possession of the rebound, however, and snapped off a second shot. It was wide of the mark and Affies claimed the win.
TOP 20 RESULTS
1st/2nd
St Mary’s DSG, Kloof 1-0 Bloemhof
3rd/4th
Rhenish 0-0 Eunice
5th/6th
Our Lady of Fatima 1-0 Menlopark
7th/8th
Paarl Gim 3-0 Durban Girls’ College
9th/10th
Oranje 2-3 Waterkloof
11th/12th
Pearson 0-0 St Mary’s Waverley
13th/14th
St Anne’s 0-0 St Cyprian’s
15th/16th
Garsfontein 1-0 St John’s DSG
17th/18th
Affies (2) 0–0 (1) Clarendon
19th/20th
Collegiate 2-0 Herschel
