DAY 2 | VIDES | Semi-finals confirmed as St Andrew’s College stuns Paul Roos
St Andrew’s College produced a thrilling performance on Friday, day two of the Vides Water Polo Tournament, in East London, to knock off Paul Roos Gimnasium (PRG) in the quarterfinals.
College was made to work extremely hard. The game went down to a penalty shootout after it had ended level at 6-6, and the boys from Makhanda triumphed 5-3 from the spot.
It was a well-deserved victory for coach Grant Mackenzie’s troops, who have played some brilliant water polo. On the opening day, they defeated KwaZulu-Natal’s Michaelhouse 8-6 and they carried that momentum over to Friday.
St Andrew’s completed their pool matches in style by beating Wynberg Boys’ High 7-6 in a match in which their vice-captain Calum Emslie made his 100th appearance for the team.
Soon after, they thumped Stirling 14-2 to book their spot in the last eight.
Up against a strong PRG side, the St Andrew’s players displayed a high level of maturity, composure, and grit to remain in the fight.
There was nothing to separate the teams after they had traded blows for all four chukkas, and it went down to a shootout.
Luke Parker, Thomas Owen-Jones, Emslie, and skipper Coel Trollip converted from the penalty spot for College, who became the second team to book their place in the semi-finals after St David’s Marist Inanda.
Coach Dean Whyte’s side was outstanding throughout the pool stages and was also unbeaten after three matches, scoring freely to rack up more than 40 goals while remaining solid on defence.
They were pushed hard by Michaelhouse but won 6-4 to progress.
The hosts, meanwhile, shrugged off Grey High 9-2 to book their spot in the semis.
Coach Storm Siebert‘s side dominated their Eastern Cape counterparts, with SA Schools’ stars, Liam Hansen and Thomas Caswell, leading the way.
Samuel van der Venter, Connor Maree, and Daniel Woodin also featured on the score sheet.
Meanwhile, Clifton College kept their hopes of defending the title alive by defeating St Alban’s College in their quarterfinal clash.
Guided by coach Pierre Le Roux, they started slowly but engaged a higher gear in the second half to run away with the match.
Daniel Nothard was one of the Durban school’s standout performers, while Jamie Nicolau and exciting youngster Lincoln Burger also got in on the goal-scoring.
The defending champs will face St David’s for a place in the final, while Selborne is set to battle their Eastern Cape battle rivals, St Andrew’s College, for a spot in the title game.
RESULTS
DAY 2
Michaelhouse 10-9 Stirling High
St David’s Marist Inanda 13-2 Grey College
St Andrew’s College 7-6 Wynberg Boys’ High
Paul Roos Gimnasium 11-2 Pearson High
St David’s Marist Inanda 13-2 Grey College
St Alban’s College 7-2 Paarl Boys’ High
Grey High 8-7 Woodridge College
Selborne College 11-5 Reddam House Constantia
Clifton College 10-5 Selborne Collegians
Michaelhouse 6-2 Wynberg Boys’ High
Pearson High 9-6 Grey College
St Alban’s College 10-4 Reddam House Constantia
St Andrew’s College 14-2 Stirling High
St David’s Marist Inanda 8-7 Paul Roos
Selborne 17-6 Paarl Boys’ High
Grey High School 10-2 Selborne Collegians
Clifton 9-8 Woodridge College
Plate quarterfinals
Wynberg 17-4 Grey College
Stirling High 8-7 Pearson High
Reddam House Constantia 14-4 Selborne Collegians
Woodridge College 12-7 Paarl Boys’ High
Quarterfinals
St Andrew’s College (5) 6-6 (3) Paul Roos Gimnasium
St David’s Marist Inanda 6-4 Michaelhouse
Selborne College 9-2 Grey High
Clifton College 9-5 St Alban’s College
