Central Gauteng clinches a fourth girls’ u19 IPT title in a row
Central Gauteng A put together a scintillating performance and defeated Western Province 10-7 on Wednesday to win a fourth successive girls’ u19 title at the Schools Water Polo South Africa (SWPSA) Inter-Provincial Tournament (IPT), which celebrated its 50th edition in Johannesburg this year.
“The girls really trusted each other and trusted the game plan, and they never gave up. Never, ever, no matter what. And that’s what I’ve tried to teach them from a young age. So, I just feel relieved,” Kelsey Thomson, the Gauteng A coach, told SuperSport Schools Plus after the final, which was played in the Jubilee Pool at St David’s Marist Inanda.
Central Gauteng’s impressive performances were reflected in the awarding of three of the five individual awards to their players. Cadha Mosehla was named the Best Forward, Jenna Blaauw received the Best Utility award, and Isabella Imbriolo was named the Player of the Tournament.
Julia Luckhoff, of Western Province A, was named the Best Defender, and Kimberly Kabiri, from Nelson Mandela Bay, won the Best Goalkeeper award.
The three-time champions went into the final aware that Western Province A was going to present a different and stiffer challenge compared to the others that they had faced leading up to the title game.
They had faced the same side in the finals of 2022, 2023, and 2024, winning each time. On Wednesday, a similar tale unfolded.
The hosts took an early lead in the first chukka. However, it didn’t last long. Province A equalised and thus began a back-and-forth battle as the sides wrestled for supremacy. At the end of the quarter, Western Province A led 3-2.
After the restart, Central Gauteng A played with more urgency. They laid siege to the Province A goal but were frustrated by the visitors, who showed that they were as good in defence as they were in attack.
Unfortunately for coach Connor Whiting’s charges, the pressure eventually told, and Central Gauteng A struck twice to take a 4-3 lead into the halftime break.
The home side maintained their two-goal cushion in the third chukka by seizing on their opportunities and making them count. Then, when they were leading 7-5, the Province A goalkeeper was excluded for an infringement on Cadha Mosehla, and Gauteng turned that advantage into a goal to go 8-5 up.
“So, all of the extra-man opportunities that we worked on and played and trained for, I didn’t even have to tell them. They just did it naturally and scored us the goals that we needed, vital goals in the third chukka,” Thomson revealed.
Western Province A didn’t resign themselves to defeat and launched a fierce fightback. However, they were stopped by the Gauteng defence, including by some fine saves by the goalkeeper, Lucy Davis, in the last line of defence.
Mosehla could have put the match beyond Province’s reach early in the fourth chukka, but she was timed out before taking a penalty. The visitors took heart from that fortunate break and put the hosts under pressure, which led to a couple of errors before Thomson called a timeout with three minutes remaining on the clock.
“The talk was just to focus our full attention for the last few minutes onto defence and be patient and calm on attack. If it’s not a 100 percent opportunity, then it’s not the right time,” Thomson shared.
Western Province A called a timeout of their own with a minute and 36 seconds remaining in the contest. They removed their keeper and went all out on attack, but Central Gauteng A stood firm and Isabella Imbriolo took the air out of Province’s challenge with a late goal to make it 10-7 with a minute left before the final whistle.
RESULTS
7th: Nelson Mandela Bay 9: Lucy Nagel (2), Megan Sheard (2), Jessica Stevens (2), Mia Jenner (1), Lucy Rutherfoord (1), Olivia Attwell (1). Zimbabwe 2: Natasha Chaniwa (1), Jodi Bawden (1).
5th: Western Province B 15: Samantha Miller (5), Olivia Figaji (3), Jemma Pearse (2), Samantha Nimb (2), Sophie Maurel (2), Abigail Weatherall (1). Buffalo City 14: Kara Batting (4), Holley Jacoby (4), Janey-Heather Wood (2), Erin Batting (1), Caitlyn Mthembu (1), Jenna Botha (1), Caroline Kretzmann (1).
3rd: Central Gauteng B (2) 10: Isabella Duffy (4), Rylee Rogers (3), Mia Duffy (1), Kathryn Thorburn (1), Annabelle Morton (1). KwaZulu-Natal (0) 10: Keira Sim (2), Farrann Elliot (2), Inge Southey (2), Hannah Savage (1), Lara Mervis (1), Inez Letschert (1), Josie Houston (1).
Final: Central Gauteng A 10: Cadha Mosehla (2), Isabella Imbriolo (2), Jenna Blaauw (2), Amy Stubbs (2), Julia Joseph (1), Caitlin Scrimgeour (1). Western Province A 7: Bella Murray (2), Emma Stevens (2), Summer-Lee Wain (1), Holly Strydom (1), Kirsten Böttger (1).
