Saint Stithians and Durban Girls’ College still unbeaten
On Friday, day two of the Saints Invitational Water Polo Tournament, a combination of entertaining action was tempered by a tough day for some. It ended with two teams unbeaten, while four sides were still searching for a win.
Roedean School and DSG Makhanda halted each other’s winning ways when they played a 4-4 draw in their second encounter of the day in a Group A clash.
Earlier, Roedean thrashed Rand Park 22-0 and DSG kept a clean sheet in a 5-0 defeat of Kingsmead College. Following the completion of their group assignments, Roedean claimed first place on goal difference from DSG.
Meanwhile, Group B’s Durban Girls’ College (DGC) and Pool D’s St Stithians Girls’ College, who are playing in familiar home waters, grabbed the limelight. Both extended their unbeaten streaks to finish their group games with perfect records.
DGC was made to work hard by St Dominic’s Catholic School for Girls (Boksburg) but came away with an 8-5 win. They, then, rolled to a 12-3 victory over Collegiate. On Thursday, they had beaten Reddam House Constantia 8-4 and St Peter’s College 15-4.
Cape Town’s Reddam Constantia secured second place in the group, after upping their performances following their opening day loss. On Friday, they outplayed St Peter’s College 16-3 and were comfortable 8-2 winners over St Dominic’s.
Fresh off of winning St Anne’s Water Polo Tournament and Mackenzie Cup, coach Connor Whiting’s side – and it should be remembered that this is a stayers’ tournament, so the lineups will be different – is still on the right track and they remain a threat.
St Dominic’s finished with two wins and two losses and third spot in Group B. In fourth, Collegiate registered a 7-2 win over St Peter’s on Friday morning. In the afternoon, though, DGC had too much firepower for the Gqeberha school.
Group C table-toppers Reddam House Bedfordview was enjoying a good run but stumbled slightly against Clarendon, who held them to a 7-7 draw. St Anne’s, the runners-up in their home tournament, claimed second place in the group after three wins and a single defeat.
St Stithians, meanwhile, continued rolling in Group D, adding two more wins on Friday. In the first, they handed Crawford Lonehill a 12-1 loss, and they followed that up by holding off last year’s Saints Invitational winners, Herschel Girls School, 6-3 in the group’s key clash. It was a first defeat for the Capetonians.
Rand Park is one of the four teams that remains winless. It’s been an uphill battle for the local side, made worse by the fact that they’re still chasing their first goal of the tournament. They’ve conceded 72 times.
In Pool B, St Peter’s was also kept out of the win column, while Beaulieu College was competitive in Pool C, scoring 16 goals while conceding 33, but they finished without a victory. It was tough sledding for Crawford Lonehill, too. They netted 12 and conceded 43 and joined the list of sides still in pursuit of a first win.
RESULTS
Girls | Day 2
Group A
St Mary’s Waverley 16-0 Rand Park
DSG Makhanda 5-0 Kingsmead
Roedean 22-0 Rand Park
St Mary’s Waverley 6-4 Kingsmead
Roedean 4-4 DSG Makhanda
Group B
Collegiate 7-2 St Peter’s
St Dominic’s 5-8 DGC
Reddam Constantia 16-3 St Peter’s
DGC 12-3 Collegiate
Reddam Constantia 8-2 St Dominic’s
Group C
St Anne’s 10-6 Pearson
Reddam Bedfordview 14-5 Beaulieu
Clarendon 9-5 Pearson
St Anne’s 11-4 Beaulieu
Group D
Kingswood 9-9 Chisipite
St Stithians 12-1 Crawford Lonehill
Herschel 18-3 Chisipite School
Kingswood 9-7 Crawford Lonehill
St Stithians 6-3 Herschel
