It’s gold again for St Mary’s
THE St Mary’s DSG first hockey team have struck gold again, winning the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls Challenge last weekend, defeating arch rivals Durban Girls College 1-0 in a close final of the two-day tournament held on the St Mary’s Astro in Kloof.
It was St Mary’s third victory in the seven-year history of the popular event after winning it first in 2012 and then again last year, equalling DSG’s three triumphs in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The St Mary’s team always looked the more confident on the day with their defence stabilised by their “anchor”, Jodie Conolly.
The only goal of the game was scored midway through the first half from a textbook penalty corner manoeuvre when the ball was expertly set up for Kiana Cormack to have a clear shot at goal which gave Jamie Hume in the DGC goals no chance.
St Mary’s had a chance to double their score at a second penalty corner just before halftime but DGC’s Anna Teversham was quick to react and dribbled the ball out of the “D” to safety.
Yet another scoring chance presented itself to St Mary’s as the clock wound down but Hume pulled off a brilliant double save leaving the score at 1-0 in St Mary’s favour.
St Mary’s captain and midfielder, Tayla Putz, who is in her third and final year playing first team, said it had been an incredible victory. “And Kiana’s goal calmed us all down,” she added.
Putz added that her team perhaps had a psychological advantage going into the final following the 2-1 victory over DGC earlier in the season, but for now they are looking forward to playing in the annual Super 12 Oranje Tournament next weekend.
To get to the final St Mary’s pulled off a 2-1 win in the first semi-final against Pool B winners St John’s, while DGC were held to a 1-1 draw in the second semi-final by Pool A winners, St Anne’s, which DGC went on to win 2-1 in the penalty shoot-out.
As always, there were some one-sided pool games with St Mary’s opening the event with a 7-0 win against the Wartburg Kirchdorf School in Pool A and DGC later beating Grantleigh 5-0 in Pool B.
Also in Pool B, St John’s were 5-0 winners over Amanzimtoti but then featured in a thrilling goalless draw against DGC while in Pool A St Mary’s were held to two draws, against Fatima 1-1 and St Anne’s 0-0.
In the play-offs to determine the rankings Ferrum claimed ninth spot with a 1-0 win over Amanzimtoti and Wartburg took seventh against Grantleigh, winning 2-1 on penalties.
Fatima were decisive 4-0 winners against King Edward to come fifth before another shoot-out was necessary after St Anne’s and St John’s drew 0-0 in the game for third place before St Anne’s won in extra time.
Final rankings were: 1 St Mary’s DSG Kloof, 2 Durban Girls College, 3 St Anne’s, 4 St John’s, 5 Our Lady of Fatima, 6 KES, 7 Wartburg Kirchdorf, 8 Grantleigh College, 9 Ferrum High, 10 Amanzimtoti High.
The prizegiving saw over 150 girls, the umpires and event officials all out on the field to receive their gifts from SPAR MD, Max Oliva, who assured them of the future of the event.
The prime awards included two Varsity College three-year bursaries which were presented to team captains Phiwokuhle Myeza of Amanzimtoti and Brady Wiseman of St Anne’s.