Goals and thrills on day one of St Stithians Hockey Festival
Spectators were treated to blowouts as well as thrilling close contests on Wednesday, the first day of the 42nd edition of the St Stithians Hockey Festival.
The hockey extravaganza runs through until Saturday, 4 April, and it forms part of the Saints Sports Fest, which also features football, netball, rugby, squash, and tennis.
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The opening day was supposed to feature 13 games; unfortunately, two of them were cancelled due to lightning.
Pretoria Boys High (PBHS) arrived at the showpiece buoyed by their performance at the Nomads Festival, which they hosted as part of their 125th birthday celebrations. Playing on home turf, they won three of their five matches.
Boys High carried that strong form into the opening fixture of the Saints Hockey Festival, edging out St Benedict’s College 1-0 in a riveting encounter.
Coach Brad Brook‘s Die Hoërskool Menlopark girls, the losing finalists at the St Mary’s Waverley Hockey Festival, took to the field against Beaulieu College in the first match of the girls’ section and showed why they made it all the way through to the title game at St Mary’s, overpowering Beaulieu 8-0.
Hoërskool Waterkloof, who reached the quarterfinals at St Mary’s, fired seven unanswered goals past Springfield Convent School in the second girls’ match.
Anyone looking for a palate cleanser after the bevy of goals from Menlopark and Waterkloof would have been grateful for the thriller served up by Hilton College and Menlopark boys. Both sides gave as good as they got, but they were inseparable after 60 minutes, with the contest finishing level at 1-1.
St David]s Marist Inanda recorded the biggest margin of victory in the boys’ section when they thrashed Ashton International College, Ballito, 7-0.
Clifton College slotted a final-minute goal in their 3-2 win over Falcon College (Zimbabwe), and St Stithians brought the curtain down on the boys’ matches with a tight 2-1 win over Reddam House Constantia.
Ashton’s girls’ team edged out the St Stithians College Girls’ Festival XI 1-0 before DSG Makhanda rolled to a comfortable 4-0 win over Bethlehem Voortrekker.
Pietermaritzburg’s Epworth School produced a polished performance to cruise to a 5-0 win over Falcon College’s girls team.
The second day of fixtures starts with a girls’ showdown between Springfield and Beaulieu at 07:15, while the boys will get the ball rolling with a tasty clash between St David’s Marist Inanda and Hilton.
RESULTS
Boys
PBHS 1-0 St Benedict’s
Hilton 1-1 Menlopark
St David’s Marist Inanda 7-0 Ashton College
Clifton College 3-2 Falcon College
St Stithians 2-1 Reddam House Constantia
Girls
Menlopark 8-0 Beaulieu
Waterkloof 7-0 Springfield
Ashton International College 1-0 St Stithians Festival XI
DSG Makhanda 4-0 Voortrekker Bethlehem
Epworth 5-0 Falcon
Springfield 2-0 St Stithians
