Werda loses regional finals of SPAR KZN Hockey Challenge
Hosted by Kingsway High School this year, the tournament has eight schools from the Amanzimtoti, Bluff, Montclair, Queensburgh and Umbilo areas competing.
DEFENDING champions, Amanzimtoti High School’s (AHS) first team hockey girls retained their title in the Durban South Regional of the SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge at the Three Schools Trust on Saturday.
The Toti team took on Werda Skool from Queensburgh in the regional’s final with the first team taking the win 1-0. The two teams had met earlier in the day in the pool games, when Toti also took the win with the scoreline 2-0 at fulltime. Both Toti and Werda advanced into the finals, having won their semi-finals on penalty shoot-outs with both of their fulltime scores level on nil.
During the pool games, AHS kept a clean sheet against their opponents, winning all three games and ending the first round on top of the log with nine points. Finishing second in the pool was Werda on six points. Tied for third in the pool was Queensburgh High and Bluff-based Grosvenor Girls’ High.
In the second pool, Kingsway High topped the log with four points, a win and a draw at the end of their pool games. New Forest claimed second spot, tied for points but with fewer goals scored, the school was delighted to advance through to the next round.
The story of the finals was all teams having a great build-up into their opponents’ halves but just unable to finish off their attacks. In the first semi-final, Amanzimtoti met New Forest. New Forest defended grandly against the defending champions and the score at fulltime was level with no one able to find the back of the net. Amanzimtoti’s Kelly van Niekerk took the first penalty shoot-out, netting her attempt. New Forest tussled for the ball and as they got around goalie Wendy Mlebuka, the eight seconds was up. Next up for Amanzimtoti was captain, Katie Dawe, who superbly scored for her team. New Forest’s second attempt was thwarted by Mlebuka with the final score 2-0 to Toti.
In the second semi-final, Kingsway took on Werda with a similar ending to the first semi-final and the scores level on nil at the end of fulltime. Kingsway was first to take the shot but Werda’s Nastasja Molver stood strong in defence. Werda then took the first shot and also didn’t manage to net it. Kingsway’s second attempt managed to get beyond Molver but the shot went wide of the empty goals. Werda’s Chanell du Preez side-stepped Kingsway’s keeper and scored the all-important goal. The final Kingsway attempt had momentum as the umpires blew the whistle for them to re-take the penalty, but as luck would have it, the re-take amounted to nothing and Werda advanced through to the finals to take on Toti for the second time that day.
Impressing on another level, Mdu Mchunu took the honours as the Most Promising Umpire for the Durban South Regional. Representing Grosvenor, the hard-working umpire also coaches at Danville and umpired in the Durban North Regional. He has been invited to further his skills in the Grand Finals that will take place in July.
“What’s coming out of this regional, which we are seeing over the years, is a positive level of energy and enthusiasm displayed by the participating schools,” said tournament director, Les Galloway. “We are really encouraged by their willingness to develop as hockey schools in order to grow the game, and a tournament like this helps to expose players to the game where they are able to learn a great deal.”
“We would like to thank the host school, Kingsway, for running an efficient tournament which was enjoyed by all,” said Rob Phillipson. “We also would like to acknowledge the coaches and managers as well as parents too for their support, as we understand the effort that needs to be put into training the girls and truly appreciate it.”
AHS will join Sarel Cilliers High School, newcomers from the Northern KZN Regional, along with Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School and St Anne’s College from the two Pietermaritzburg Regionals, Durban Girls’ College from the Durban Central regionals and five other teams that still need to secure their spaces in the remaining regionals that will be held around KwaZulu-Natal. For more info, like the Facebook page.
