Herschel, St Mary’s DSG, Kloof, and Collegiate start strong at Girls Challenge
Herschel, St Mary’s DSG, Kloof, and Collegiate swept aside their opponents to rise to the summit of Pools A, D, and E after the first day of the inaugural Belgotex Sport Girls Hockey Challenge, at Paarl Gimnasium, on Thursday.
Herschel got moving with back-to-back victories over Cornwall Hill College and Durban Girls’ College (DGC). Coach Stacey Gedult’s charges also registered the biggest margin of victory in the tournament with an 11-0 drubbing of Cornwall Hill.
That match was the first of the tournament and the ladies from Claremont, Cape Town, made their intentions loud and clear: they will not pull their punches and they have their eyes set on the title.
Anna Sherren, Sarah Ashbolt, and Emily Dickinson each scored a brace, while Heather Kane, Sophia Luger, Nina Wides, Katherine Featherstone, and Georgia Nicklin added a goal each in the dominant win.
Herschel faced a tougher opponent and a sterner test when they took on DGC. In the opening chukka, the sides traded blows, with each making threatening excursions into the other’s half. However, neither could deliver the killer blow despite creating numerous chances.
Five minutes into the second chukka, though, Anna Sherren provided the breakthrough, and her goal proved to be the match-winner, the only one of the contest.
“The team did well when they executed the game plan. They created goal-scoring opportunities, which we converted into a goal, and we defended the 1-0 lead well to close out the game,” Gedult told Supersport Schools Plus.
With Oranje also in Pool A, competition in the group is keen. The Bloemfontein school recorded the second-highest margin of victory on Thursday when they blasted Cornwall Hill 8-0.
St Mary’s DSG, Kloof, kicked off their campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over St Cyprian’s, courtesy of goals from Jenna-Leigh Freese and Olivia Lord.
Freese tripled her output when she fired in a brace of goals to help St Mary’s DSG recover from being 0-1 down to score a 3-1 victory over Reddam House Constantia. Olivia Sivewright secured the win when she scored St Mary’s DSG’s third.
Reddam had taken the lead through Sally Gitlin just eight minutes into the contest. Up until that point, the KZN girls had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but Reddam struck against the run of play after St Mary’s had set up camp in the Capetonians’ half. Despite exerting huge pressure, the St Mary’s Waverley Festival champions ended the first chukka trailing by that one goal.
St Mary’s DSG’s persistent attacks on the Reddam goal reaped dividends, though, when they converted a short corner eight minutes into the second chukka.
Four minutes into the third quarter, coach Nolwazi Nkabinde‘s charges forced a turnover in the Reddam half and connected through pinpoint accurate passes to go 2-1 up. They scored their third in the fourth quarter with eight minutes remaining to seal the tie.
Collegiate went two for two to move to the top of Pool E. Fresh off of winning the National All Girls’ Festival title, they were made to work hard for victory in their opener, but, eventually, they squeezed past Durbanville, edging it 3-2.
Taryn Peltenburg, Jade Grobler, and Kerrin Gillies were on target for Collegiate, while Jani Steenkamp and Amber-Reece Dunker-Smith found the back of the net for Durbanville.
Collegiate ended proceedings on day one with a 1-0 win over Rustenburg Girls’ High. Kerrin Gillies, the Player of the Tournament at the All Girls’ Festival, fired in her second goal of the competition as Collegiate got by the ladies from Rondebosch.
Rustenburg and Durbanville, both beaten by one goal by Collegiate, meet in the first match of day two. DGC will try to keep themselves in the running when they meet Cornwall Hill in the first Pool A game of the day. Pool D’s matches will begin with a fixture between St Cyprian’s and Reddam House Constantia.
RESULTS
Pool A
Oranje 1-1 Durban Girls’ College
Herschel 11-0 Cornwall Hill
Oranje 8-0 Cornwall Hill
Herschel 1-0 Durban Girls’ College
Pool B
Fairmont 0-0 Springfield
Paarl Gim 2-0 St Mary’s Waverley
Fairmont 1-1 St Mary’s Waverley
Paarl Gim 3-1 Springfield
Pool C
Stellenberg 4-0 Somerset College
Pearson 2-1 Waterkloof
Waterkloof 3-1 Somerset College
Pearson 1-1 Stellenberg
Pool D
Reddam Constantia 2-0 St Stithians
St Mary’s DSG Kloof 2-0 St Cyprian’s
St Mary’s DSG Kloof 3-1 Reddam Constantia
St Cyprian’s 2-0 St Stithians
Pool E
Rustenburg 2-1 Garsfontein
Collegiate 3-2 Durbanville
Collegiate 1-0 Rustenburg
Garsfontein 1-0 Durbanville
