KEHS crowned hockey champs
KING Edward High School (KEHS) scored a convincing third consecutive victory at the Ugu and Sisonke regional tournament of the 2017 SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge which was hosted by Hoërskool Suid-Natal at Port Shepstone last weekend.
KEHS have therefore qualified for the Grand Finals tournament to be played at St Mary’s DSG Kloof in July along with Ferrum High (KZN North), St John’s College (PMB Central), St Anne’s Diocesan College (PMB North), Amanzimtoti High (Durban South), Crawford College La Lucia (Durban North) and Durban Girls’ College (Durban Central).
There are three more regional tournaments yet to be played next month for schools in the Umvoti/Umzinyathi region hosted by Wembley College at Greytown on May 13, Highway schools hosted by Curro Christian Academy at Hillcrest on May 21 and KZN North Coast schools hosted by Grantleigh College at Kwambonambi on May 28.
Nine schools took part in last weekend’s tournament, making it one of the biggest regionals in the tournament.
But KEHS proved to be unbeatable throughout the day’s play, scoring 15 goals to finish top of Pool A with a clear four-point margin over secondplaced SouthCity who managed to hold the champions from Matatiele to a goalless draw.
Centre striker Lukhona Ndumndum scored the lion’s share of the KEHS goals and showed off her skills when in the circle and in one-on-one situations with the opposing goalkeepers.
SouthCity of Margate were held to another draw against Port Shepstone High School.
Creston College topped Pool B by three points from Kokstad College, with neither team dominating in a 1-1 draw, while Kokstad College were held to a goalless draw by host school Suid-Natal.
King Edward and Kokstad College were pretty evenly matched in the first semi-final with Azisa Cokoto scoring the only goal of the match while the second semi-final between SouthCity and Creston College failed to produce a goal.
But Creston’s Fezeka Nzama and Lara Bounverie both scored in the penalty shoot-out, with Daniella Horn keeping a clean sheet in the Creston goals.
The final between the defending champs KEHS and previous winners Creston got off to a gentle start.
In arguably their best display of the tournament, KEHS overwhelmed Creston College 3-0 by gradually controlling the pace of the game and slowly building momentum after a rather slow start.
Their star attacking trio of Lukhona Ndumndum, Zhanique Sissing and Azisa Cokoto were practically unstoppable, with Sissing always looking dangerous in the circle and scoring the first two goals and Cokoto getting the third.
In the play-off for third place, Kokstad College were caught on the back foot by a focused and hard-working SouthCity outfit.
Although City scored only one goal, it was all that was required to see them on the third step of the podium to take the bronze medals for the first time in this regional.
Final rankings of the SPAR Ugu and Sisonke Suid-Natal Regional Tournament: 1 King Edward High School, 2 Creston College, 3 SouthCity Christian Schools, 4 Kokstad College, 5 Port Shepstone High School, 6 Hoërskool Suid-Natal, 7 St Patrick’s College, 8 Ixopo High School, 9 Scottburgh High School.