St Mary’s Waverley wins Pullen Trophy, Waterkloof lifts Howell Trophy
St Mary’s Waverley might have missed out on qualifying for the Fairtree Top 12 for a first time in 2024, but they showed they remain a force to be reckoned with by capturing the Pullen Trophy on Saturday.
They beat Hoërskool Monument 2-1 in the final to succeed Top 12-qualified St Stithians Girls College as the champions.
In 2023, Saints won the title with a 3-1 win over Noordheuwel in the title-decider.
The Pullen and Howell competitions feature leading schools from the Johannesburg, Pretoria and the surrounding regions.
St Mary’s last won the Pullen Trophy in 2022, after a six-year wait, so it wasn’t a long title wait for the school’s renowned hockey programme to take hold of the silverware again. That same year, their u16 team finished fourth, losing to Monnas in the third and fourth playoff. On Saturday, St Mary’s got the better of the team from Krugersdorp.
The Waverley girls were first onto the score sheet when Zara Colyn struck four minutes from the end of the first chukka.
Monument levelled in the second chukka, when Hannah Quinton scored from a penalty corner.
The winner, though, came from Lucy Viljoen in the final chukka, also from a PC.
St Mary’s coach Cindy Brown said consistency won her team the trophy. “We were consistent throughout the tournament. I think we played some good hockey.
“Today was a tough game,” she added, “but we scored the goals when it counted.
“Monument played well, and I am chuffed that the girls pulled through,” Brown concluded.
In the u16 final Hoërskool Waterkloof beat their Pretoria rivals Garsfontein 3-0 to lift the Howell Trophy.
