Maritzburg College celebrates Reunion Weekend in style
Maritzburg College celebrated their Reunion Day in style, with coach Mark Sanders’ team giving their old boys plenty to cheer after a 4-1 win over Kearsney College on Pape’s Astro, on Saturday.
The hosts hardly put a foot wrong in the match. “I am proud of them and the way they are playing hockey, and the maturity they are playing with,” Sanders told Supersport Schools Plus after the contest.
In preparation for the game, College began their day by hearing from some of their alumni who have represented South Africa. Then, just before the start, they celebrated four players – Uyanda Dlamini, Dane Jackson, Siwa Sithembu, and Greg Askew – who walked out to a guard of honour for having earned 50 first team caps.
They’d got to that milestone a little earlier in the season, but it was decided to celebrate their achievements on Reunion Weekend. Dlamini is up to 63 caps, Jackson is close behind with 56, while Sithembu and Askew have 55 apiece.
Coach Keagan Pearce’s Kearsney side was always going to offer a tricky challenge and, said Sanders, College was not about to underestimate them. They did their homework on the Botha’s Hill boys and rolled out a deep press to deal with the threat of overheads when Kearsney was attempting to exit from the back.
While Kearsney had their moments on offence, Maritzburg enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and controlled the game for long periods.
“We were always in control and managed whatever threat they had. We controlled the ball and put it into good areas and tried to connect with as many players as possible,” Sanders said.
College’s control of possession and their success at stringing passes together brought them their first goal after 18 minutes, with Ross van der Vliet striking a field goal, his fourth of the season.
The pressure from the hosts also forced Kearsney into mistakes and one of those missteps led to a short corner. Dane Jackson made full use of the opportunity, beating the ‘keeper low to his right for College’s second.
Although the hosts dictated terms for the most part, that did not mean that Kearsney sat back and let College run them down. Pearce’s charges counter-punched, with Keegan de Jager excelling in defence. He, also, struck from a penalty corner for Kearsney to cut the deficit in half.
It was 2-1 until the last 12 minutes of play. Then, after College foiled a Kearsney attack, they countered swiftly. It took only three passes and the Red, Black, and White once again owned a two-goal advantage.
Dane Jackson initiated the attack after picking up the ball in defence, and played it to Kadin Jenkins, who found Van der Vliet up front with a beautifully weighted pass in the circle.
Van der Vliet, then, found himself face-to-face with Thando Marafane, the Kearsney goalkeeper, but he slipped a first-time shot to the right of the netminder to win the one-on-one contest.
Rory Schirge slammed the final nail into the coffin with a goal just one minute from the end with a neat and composed deflection.
RESULT
Maritzburg College 4-1 Kearsney
