St Anne’s lifts Spar KZN Hockey Challenge PMB North title
St Anne’s DSG recorded a 2-0 win over The Wykeham College (TWC) to lift the Pietermaritzburg North Regional title in the Spar KZN Hockey Challenge at Treverton on Sunday.
With the win, St Anne’s became the fourth team to qualify for the Spar KZN Hockey Challenge Grand Finals to be hosted by St Mary’s DSG, in Kloof, in July. They’ll join St Mary’s, Maris Stella, and Epworth School at the event.
St Anne’s were champions on and off the field. One of their midfielders, Tori Pearson, won a brand-new stick in a lucky draw, and because she had just acquired a new stick, she gave the one she’d won in the lucky draw to a player from another team, who desperately needed one.
In Sunday’s tournament, St Anne’s was up against Treverton, The Wykeham Collegiate, Howick High, Grace College, and Riverwood College.
For St Anne’s, it was their first time back on the turf since the Balling Festival two weeks earlier. Coach Morne Odendaal felt his charges performed at 50 percent of their abilities at the showpiece in Bethlehem.
“We struggled with the basics and lacked the final touch despite creating ample opportunities. However, our defensive organisation was commendable,” Odendaal told Supersport Schools Plus after the Balling Festival.
St Anne’s didn’t have similar issues at Treverton. They kicked off their campaign with a tentative 1-0 win over Riverwood, but they didn’t look back and grew in confidence as the day progressed.
“We created better passing lines and our pre-scanning set us up for good crisp attacking phases. It was a great team performance,” Odendaal said.
St Anne’s scored 21 unanswered goals on their way to the top of the table in the round-robin phase of the tournament. Their results included a 10-0 thrashing of Grace College, the largest win of the event.
“I am extremely pleased that we didn’t concede a goal or short corner in the whole festival,” Odendaal shared.
TWC finished in second place with four wins from their five matches, for a total of 16 points. Their only loss, a 0-1 defeat, came at the hands of St Anne’s. Coach Emile Odendaal’s side scored 10 goals and conceded two on their way to second place.
The rest of the teams had mixed results, but none threatened St Anne’s and TWC’s runs to the final.
RESULTS
Treverton 0-0 Howick
Riverwood 0-1 St Anne’s
TWC 4-0 Grace College
Howick 0-3 St Anne’s
Treverton 1-3 TWC
Grace College 1-0 Riverwood
Howick 0-1 TWC
Riverwood 0-1 Treverton
Grace College 0-10 St Anne’s
Howick 0-0 Grace College
Treverton 0-6 St Anne’s
TWC 2-0 Riverwood
Grace College 0-0 Treverton
St Anne’s 1-0 TWC
Riverwood 0-0 Howick
