Reddam House Bedfordview outlasts St Stithians to clinch Roedean Prestige Cup
Reddam House Bedfordview and St Stithians College staged a repeat of last weekend’s Parktown Spring Sports Festival on Saturday when they met in the final of the Roedean Prestige Cup in Johannesburg.
On 5 October, at Parktown, an intense final ended 4-4. Then, Saints snatched the title with a 3-1 victory following a penalty shootout.
Coach Kyla Moolman’s St Stithians side made light work of their first four opponents at the Spring Sports Festival. They brushed aside St Mary’s Waverley 7-3 and handed Kingsmead a 4-1 loss. They were, then, ruthless in wins over Parktown High School for Girls and Pretoria High School for Girls, winning those games 12-1 and 13-0 respectively.
On day two of the tournament, the final day, Saints downed Steyn City School 16-3 before scraping an 8-7 win over St Dominic’s. Then, they fell to Reddam House Bedfordview, going down 5-12, but they reversed that result in the final.
After securing the title, St Stithians’ captain Tori Tanner-Ellis said they were happy with the win. “The final was a very exciting and tough match as Reddam House Bedfordview is a very tough team,” she told SuperSport Schools Plus. “The team and I are very happy with our outcome and cannot wait for the rest of the season.”
On Saturday, the tables were turned as Reddam House Bedfordview claimed the honours at Roedean. They and Saints were, again, the class of the field, demonstrating good skills and teamwork to book their places in the title-deciding matchup, which featured surges of momentum from both sides as fortunes waxed and waned.
Reddam bolted out of the starting gate, netting the first two goals only a few minutes into the final. St Stithians, stunned for a moment, quickly struck back and soon made it 2-2. They were suddenly on fire and by the end of the first chukka they had surged into a 4-2 lead.
By halftime, Saints appeared to be on their way to another title, having scored five times without reply to lead 5-2. Soon after the restart, they netted for a sixth time.
Reddam was far from done, however, and they pulled back three goals, without reply, to trail only 5-6 with another quarter to go.
Another two goals from Reddam in the last chukka pushed them ahead of Saints once more and they held on for a narrow and hard-fought 7-6 win to clinch the Roedean Prestige Cup.
Roedean finished third but was satisfied that other goals besides winning the title were met.
“The primary aim of the competition is not so much rooted in sporting success- the aim is to drive community development and partnerships,” the school said. “We continue to ensure that the tournament is positioned as one of the best water polo tournaments hosted in Gauteng and has a proven sustainable impact on both sports’ transformation and water safety.”
STANDINGS
1. Reddam House Bedfordview
2. St Stithians College
3. Roedean School South Africa
4. St Dominic’s Boksburg
