Grantleigh ends two year hockey drought
GRANTLEIGH College ended its two-year drought after bagging the coveted North
Coast Regional title of the Spar
KZN Schoolgirls’
Hockey Challenge held at Grantleigh on
Saturday.
Their 1-0 win over defending champions
Felixton College came courtesy of Josie Reilly who found herself in the right place at the right time and managed to ricochet a shot into the back of the Felixton net.
This is Grantleigh's fourth regional title, but will be the first time that regional winners do not partake in the Grand Finale in Durban, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both Felixton College and Grantleigh produced some great hockey during the round robin stages and brought their form into the final, making the game interesting and exciting.
Felixton dominated the early exchanges, but failed to capitalise on their ball possession and field territory.
After being on the defensive for some time, Grantleigh managed to finally get into Felixton's half, but the surge was short-lived as a number of infringements allowed Felixton back into the Grantleigh 22.
The bulk of the first period action took place in the midfield, before Grantleigh managed to break the defensive shackles and make a run for the Felixton goal.
As a result, Grantleigh earned a long corner.
A Felixton defender failed to keep her distance from the start of the set piece and as a result, was directed to the sin bin for two minutes.
This resulted in the first short corner of the game, from which Grantleigh failed to capitalise.
Felixton then had a slight breather after 90 seconds of play in their danger zone, when they cleared the ball from the host’s second long corner.
But Grantleigh took advantage of the last few seconds of a one-player-short Felixton team, rocketing the ball in from just outside the circle with hopes of finding a teammate’s stick along the way. A calculating Reilly was in the right place at the right time and managed to ricochet the shot into the Felixton net, taking her team 1-0 up.
Five minutes later, Grantleigh captain Jessica du Plessis attempted to increase the lead, but an alert Senamile Mhlaba from Felixton magnificently charged down the shot.
With three-and-a-half minutes of play left, Grantleigh was awarded their third short corner, but the Felixton defenders did not allow them any room, getting the ball out neatly.
As the game neared full time, Carla Janse van Rensburg found herself on the Felixton post with no defender marking her. Receiving the ball, she tried to chip in a sneaky shot, but an on-her-toes Mhlaba hugging the post, punched it away easily.
In the earlier round robin game between the two teams, the hosts netted two goals, with Reilly and Michaela Hagemeier scoring for Grantleigh.
This was the fourth regional in this year's tournament. Grantleigh now joins Danville Park Girls’ High who won the first tournament in the Durban North Regional.
Second regional winners from the uMvoti, uThukela and uMzinyathi Regional were Wembley College, followed by St Mary’s DSG in the Highway Regional.