Selborne edge St Andrews to win Woodridge Stayers tournament
A hat-trick of goals by Liam Hansen, to go along with goals from Connor Maree, and Thomas Caswell secured an impressive, hard-fought (5-2) victory for Selborne College against St Andrews College in the inaugural Woodridge Stayers Water Polo tournament at Woodridge on Sunday.
Selborne, who attended the SACS Water Polo tournament late last month were looking to improve their overall performance having finished outside the top five in Cape Town.
The East London side was seeded in Pool B, alongside Pearson High School, Stirling High School, and Somerset College.
The visitors were expected to win their pool convincingly and they did, thumping all of their opposition to make their route to the final smooth.
In their three pool matches, Storm Siebert’s side scored a mammoth 51 goals while only conceding one goal.
These came from a (16-1) whopping of Pearson High School, (21-0) demolition of Somerset College, and a (14-0) breeze past Stirling High School.
In the play-offs, they put 18 goals past Woodridge before thumping Glenwood House (19-8) to set themselves clear of a final against St Andrews College, who had to go to penalties to win their semi-final (9-8) against Cape Town’s Wynberg Boys.
The final was nothing short of competitive as Selborne dominated proceedings from the get-go.
The side recorded eight goal attempts, converting five, while St Andrews converted two of their five attempts.
Selborne also recorded a high number of blocks and steals, eight compared to St Andrews’ six. They also managed to score two goals in the first two chukkas, controlling the game until the fourth quarter when St Andrews registered their goals.
Reacting after the match, head coach, Storm Siebert said he was delighted with his side’s performance considering it was a young group of players.
“The boys played really well, I think our route to the final was a bit simpler than some of the other teams but when we needed to step up, the boys definitely did, and the results showed.”
The Stayers tournament has been designed to give players staying at school the following year an opportunity to test their skills in first-team colours.
Siebert says it’s extremely important that the young players get an opportunity to get some experience under their belts ahead of next year.
“There are no Matriculants in this team, it’s a stayers tournament for all the players staying next year.”
“It’s vitally important – just to get the boys together, playing and gelling together for next year, it’s very important to us – and will help in the fixtures against St Andrews and Grey that we still need to play.”
In other matches on the final day, Wynberg thrashed Glenwood House (11-0) before a spirited fight by Gqeberha’s Pearson High saw them clinch a (5-2) win against Merrifield.
Scorers:
Selborne College 5: Liam Hansen (x3) Connor Maree, Thomas Caswell. St Andrews 2: Coel Trollip, Nick Franklin.
Results:
Day 1:
Glenwood House 16, Saheti 4; Selborne College 16, Pearson 1; Striling 9, Somerset College 5; Woodridge College 8, Hudson Park 5; Grey High School 19, Grey 2nds 1; Alexander Road 2, Kingswood College 20; Wynberg Boys’ High 16, Invitational 3; St Andrew’s College 16, Merrifield 4; Grey High School 19, Alexander Road 1; Grey 2nds 9, Kingswood College 9; Invitational 2, Merrifield 9; St Andrew’s College 6, Wynberg Boys’ High 6; Hudson Park 10, Saheti 11; Woodridge College 9, Glenwood House 11; Pearson 4, Stirling 4; Somerset College 0, Selborne College 21.
Day 2:
Woodridge 16, Saheti 4; Glenwood House 14, Hudson Park 3; Selborne 14, Stirling 0; Pearson 9, Somerset College 2; Grey High 16, Kingswood 1; Grey 2nds 12, Alex Road 5; St Andrews 17, Woodridge Invitational 0; Wynberg 20, Merrifield 0.
Play-offs:
Woodridge 11, Grey 2nds 5; Kingswood 15, Saheti 4; Stirling 10, Merrifield 3; St Andrews 20, Pearson 0; Glenwood House 9, Stirling 3; Selborne 18, Woodridge 4; Grey High 7, St Andrews 8; Wynberg 17, Kingswood 1; Merrifield 5, Hudson 2; Grey 2nds 10, Somerset College 3; Saheti 7, Woodridge Invitational 3; Pearson 15, Alex Road 3.
Day 3:
Selborne College 19, Glenwood House 8; St Andrews 9, Wynberg 8; Merrifield 0, Grey 2nds 0; Pearson 14, Saheti 2; Woodridge 8, Stirling 7; Grey High 12, Kingswood 3; Somerset College 9, Hudson 5; Woodridge Invitational 9, Alex Road 3; Kingswood 8, Stirling 7; Hudson 9, Alex Road 4; Grey High 17, Woodridge 4; Wynberg 11, Glenwood House 0; Pearson 5, Merrifield 2; Selborne 5, St Andrews 2.
