Clarendon tops in hockey challenge

EAST London’s Clarendon High became the new SPAR Eastern Cape Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge champions when they defeated York High in the final at Woodridge on Saturday.

The match signalled the end of another exciting schoolgirl hockey competition, which SPAR Eastern Cape sponsorships and events manager Alan Stapleton said was here to stay.

The provincial finals involved five regional winners and, after the round-robin competition, the George side qualified to meet Clarendon in the final.

It was a close-run thing for York, however, because they only edged past Kingsridge 1-0 in their final round-robin match, which decided who would go through to play the East London girls.

In the final, Bianca Wood stood out for Clarendon, scoring all the goals in a 3-0 victory.

The East Londoners dominated early on in the 30-minute match and took a 1-0 lead into half time.

York then showed fine spirit, putting their opponents under pressure in the second half, but could not crack a solid Clarendon defence.

As they pushed forward in search of the equaliser, Clarendon were able to exploit some gaps at the back and Wood struck twice late in the game to put the result beyond doubt.

At the prize-giving, Stapleton congratulated all those who took part and thanked Woodridge, in particular, for their role in hosting the tournament after the devastation of the June fires.

In recognition of its continued rise from the ashes, SPAR Eastern Cape contributed R100 for each goal scored to Woodridge, which resulted in an overall donation of R3 500.

After attending a SPAR national meeting in Durban on Thursday, Stapleton said he was certain the Schoolgirls Challenge would continue to grow and that it had become an important event on the retailer’s calendar. Final positions: 1 Clarendon, 2 York 3 Woodridge, 4 Kingsridge, 5 Kingswood.