Paul Roos and Collegiate Girls’ High crowned u16 Top Schools champs
The u16 Top Schools Hockey Tournament, hosted by Paarl Gimnasium, concluded on Sunday with Paul Roos Gimnasium (PRG) claiming top honours in the boys’ section, while it was Collegiate Girls’ High who took home gold in the girls’ competition.
PRG defeated Northwood School 4-2 in a penalty shootout after the final had ended level at 2-2.
In the girls’ final, Collegiate came from a goal down to beat Paarl Gimnasium 3-1 and take the title to the Eastern Cape.
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Road to the final: Paul Roos
PRG came into the tournament as one of the Western Cape favourites, along with Paarl Boys’ High, Parel Vallei and Paarl Gimnasium.
Under the leadership of coaches Keelan Tobin and Cody Schoeman, PRG has enjoyed a strong season and, despite going down 1-2 against SACS last month, they were in top form and eager to stake their claim against some of the best u16 teams in the country.
They were drawn in Pool B, along with Parel Vallei, Michaelhouse, Paarl Boys’ High, Grey College, and Menlopark.
It wasn’t plain sailing for the boys from Stellenbosch, who won three of their pool matches, drew with Boys’ High, and were beaten once, going down 0-2 against Michaelhouse.
Nonetheless, that left them in second place in their pool, which secured them a semi-final showdown with Grey High on Saturday night.
In that clash, PRG started brightly, scoring early through Luc Botha and PG Groenewald, but the boys from Gqeberha replied through Danté Elkington. Groenewald responded with a second goal to seal a 3-1 win for his side.
In the final, Paul Roos came up against Northwood School, who had defeated Parel Vallei 4-1 in the other semi-final.
Just as they had done against Grey High, PRG started well and opened the scoring through Ruben Gouws.
Northwood, however, fired back with two goals in quick succession through Hamza Amal and Mnqobi Mhlongo. PRG looked down and out as the time ticked away until Seth Paterson stunned the Durban school with a goal 14 seconds from the final whistle to rescue a 2-2 draw for PRG.
The Stellenbosch boys, then, went on to win the title 4-2 on penalties. They will next shift their focus to a big interschools clash with Grey College this coming weekend.
Road to the final: Collegiate Girls’ High
Collegiate Girls’ High entered the u16 Top Schools tournament as the only team from the Eastern Cape in the girls’ section.
Although they had put together an impressive season, they were viewed by some as slight underdogs, but they made their presence felt immediately over the course of the tournament’s first two days.
Drawn in Pool B, Collegiate finished the pool stage unbeaten, winning three and drawing two.
Those results left Collegiate atop their pool and set them up for a semi-final date with Pretoria’s Die Hoërskool Menlopark, who had finished second in Pool A behind the hosts, Paarl Gimnasium.
A Kerrin Gillies goal from a penalty corner was enough to take Collegiate to a 1-0 victory over Menlopark and book them a place in the title-decider against Paarl Gim.
In the early going of the final, the Eastern Cape side was on the back foot and found themselves 0-1 down after Annabelle Smith struck for the home side. In the second half, Collegiate came roaring back, replying with three goals, courtesy of a Jana Prinsloo brace and another goal from Gillies to lay their hands on the title.
Day 4 Boys Results
Northwood School 4-1 Parel Vallei (Semi-final 2)
Outeniqua 0-1 Paarl Gimnasium
Paarl Boys’ High (1) 1-1 (3) Michaelhouse
Grey High 2-1 Parel Vallei
Die Hoërskool Menlopark 0-3 Grey College
Fairmont 0-1 Pearson High
Paul Roos (4) 2-2 (2) Northwood School – Final
Day 4 Girls’ fixtures
Die Hoërskool Menlopark 0-1 Collegiate Girls’ High (Semi-final 2)
Our Lady Fatima 2-1 St Mary’s DSG
Waterkloof (0) 0-0 (3) Garsfontein
Reddam House Constantia 1-2 Die Hoërskool Menlopark
Rhenish (2) 1-1 (1) Affies
Oranje 0-2 Herschel
Collegiate Girls’ High 3-1 Paarl Gimnasium – Final
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