Reddam House to battle St Paul’s College in the CTIHT final
Reddam House Constantia and St Paul’s College, from Windhoek, will meet in the Cape Town International Hockey Tournament (CTIHT) title game at the Hartleyvale A Astro on Sunday afternoon.
In the semi-finals, Reddam House prevailed 2-1 in a penalty shootout with Parel Vallei after the teams had played to a 2-2 draw, while St Paul’s College edged out Paarl Girls’ High 2-1 in regulation time.
“We are excited to be in the final. The girls worked hard to get here. They are dedicated, and the countless hours they spent in the practice matches have paid off,” Nevil Gora, the St Paul’s College coach, told SuperSport Schools Plus after his team had sealed a place in the title decider.
It’s St Paul’s College’s second international final of the year. The Namibian side also participated in the Belgotex Easter Festival and made it all the way through but lost to Fairmont High School in the final. Gora is hopeful for a change of fortune this time around.
The St Paul’s College coach has an idea of what to expect. Sunday’s showdown will be their second meeting with Reddam after the teams shared a 1-1 draw in a Pool A clash, with Stephanie Shepherd scoring for St Paul’s and Emma Hibbert for Reddam.
The final will be a tough test. Reddam has been the most dominant outfit at the tournament and is unbeaten. Coach Chris Hibbert‘s side will be laser-focused on maintaining their pristine record.
“We have been focusing on work rate, chasing lost causes, and grinding the opposition down, then taking advantage of tired legs in the second half,” Hibbert said when identifying what has earned his charges to a place in the final.
Reddam’s relentlessness has helped them net 19 goals, the most by any team. Seven of those goals have come came from Emma Hibbert, who has been superb in front of goal. She is the tournament’s leading goal-scorer, and two of those goals came when the chips were down in their semifinal. Then, when that contest went to a penalty shootout, she stepped up to produce an ice-cold finish in sudden death to usher Reddam into the final.
“The semifinal was always going to be tough, having previously played Parel Vallei twice this season with honours even. Parel Vallei started well and were arguably the better side in the first half. But the Reddam girls rallied and showed some high-quality skills to come back from a goal down on two occasions,” Hibbert said.
St Paul’s College displayed a solid defence when they faced Reddam in the group stages and when they jostled with Millfield, with their goalkeepers stepping up and making outstanding saves to keep them in the contests.
“They don’t just make great saves, they also do a wonderful job in keeping the defence organised, and on their toes,” said Gora.
The St Paul’s coach will need his girls to be at their best at the back against Reddam’s marauding forwards because it’s not only Emma Hibbert that they need to worry about. Jessica Bester and Sally Gitlin have also been threats in the circle and have netted five times each.
Those three Reddam forwards feature as three of the tournament’s top four goal-scorers. However, it hasn’t been just about the forwards. Reddam has performed well as a unit.
“It’s been great to see the girls executing our plans on the turf, especially the youngsters for whom this was their first experience of top-level tournament hockey,” Hibbert said.
While they feature a strong defence, St Paul’s College is not just about preventing goals. They are one of only two teams to score 10 goals in a match – the other being Reddam – and have scored the second-most goals, with a tally of 17.
Tamara Grögli, the spearhead of a well-oiled machine, has been their most prolific player with five goals to her name.
“We have a strong leadership group that inspires the girls to play for each other. They pull together and we will do our best on Sunday.
“For the team’s success, all the parts work very well together. From the leadership group to the junior players and the management everyone has helped us to get to this point. We are also super thankful to our sponsor Food Lovers Namibia,” Gora said.
The sides have a rest day on Saturday, during which they will put up their feet and work on strategies to undo their opposition on Sunday.
Sunday’s final takes place at 15:20 on the Hartleyvale A Astro.
Results
St Paul’s College: 2 – Leila Grögli, Oyo Hinda. Paarl Girls: 1 – Charlotte Louw.
Reddam House: (2) 2 -Emma Hibbert (2). Parel Vallei: (1) 2 -Jordan Boer, Eva Blaauw.
Hoërskool Bellville: 3 – Juanine Nel (2), Anke Breyl. Worcester Gim: 0.
Millfield: 3 – Margot Earl (2), Isla Smith. Kingston Grammar: 1 – Camille Delbe-Waldron.
Chisipite: 2 – Jessica Orford, Michelle Dandara. Somerset College: 1 – Evie Benson.
Windhoek Afrikaanse Private School: (2) 1 – Marlene Coetzee. Curro Durbanville: (1) 1 – Danielleh Hugo.
HMS La Rochelle: 4 – Elizabeth Rademeyer, Aninka Muller, Cara Wilson, Gretha du Toit. Windhoek High: 0.
Outeniqua: (2) 2 – Zoe Banard, Mila Bergh. Durbanville High: (1) 2 – Jani Steenkamp, Amy Ten Cate.
