St Anne’s cruises to victory over Durban Girls’ College
St Anne’s marched to a 4-1 win over Durban Girls College (DGC) when the schools crossed swords at DGC on Wednesday.
Coach Morne Odendaal’s charges are enjoying a rich vein of form. They headed into the match on the back of an emphatic 7-1 thrashing of Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School (PGHS) on Tuesday.
In that win, Tori Pearson ran riot, scoring four sensational goals. The Grade 10 learner has been prolific in the circle and has been on the scoresheet in almost every match that she has played. In their previous outing, against Witteberg, Pearson scored one of St Anne’s goals in their 2-0 victory.
She’s the Hilton school’s leading scorer, with 11 goals to her name, and it was no surprise when her name showed up on the scoresheet in their triumph over DGC.
In Wednesday’s first half, St Anne’s and DGC appeared evenly matched They made forays into the opposition half, but both failed to convert chances. The match turned in the third chukka, though.
The visitors had been probing down DGC’s left flank with enterprising runs for most of the match and they finally succeeded when Belle Hofmeyer took advantage of a good build-up by her side to break the line and set up Georgie Davies, who made no mistake. St Anne’s made it 2-0 when Jasmine Kelly drilled the ball past the DGC defensive wall off a short corner a short while later.
Those two goals rattled DGC, and they were aware that if they didn’t find a prompt reply, St Anne’s might run away with the contest. DGC amped up their attack in the final quarter, but their efforts were met by a well-organised defence.
However, DGC’s attacking efforts also left them open to a counterattack and they paid the price when Pearson converted her 11th goal of the season off a counter. The home team, courageously, kept attacking, however, and they were rewarded with a goal to reduce the deficit to two goals.
St Anne’s, in turn, refused to sit on their lead and defend. They kept taking it to DGC and one of their excursions into the home team’s half brought them a penalty corner. When Iminati Ngxola deflected the ball into the back of the net to make it 4-1, she had driven the final nail into the coffin.
It’s been a busy time for St Anne’s. The DGC clash was their second in three days, and they face a third in five days when they take on The Wykeham Collegiate (TWC), in Pietermaritzburg, on Friday. It will be brother against brother when they meet, with Emile Odendaal in charge of TWC and Morné coaching St Anne’s.
The busy run of matches will also serve as good preparation for the the hosts of the annual St Anne’s Cup, which features a strong 12-team field and kicks off on 22 May.
