St Mary’s claims ninth regional hockey champs title
The Kloof school will soon go on to compete against the other regional winners!
ST Mary’s DSG have once again claimed the Highway regional title for the ninth time after a spectacular display at the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge at Curro Hillcrest at the weekend.
Throughout the day, the Saints played a magnificent flowing and controlled game. The team dominated all of their games and knocked in 27 goals in six games. In the regional final, they met host school, Curro Hillcrest, a team that played out of their boots in the round robin stages to earn a berth against the defending champs.
Both teams went head to head in their last round robin game. St Mary’s camped out in the Curro half for the majority of the game and peppered its keeper with wave after wave of attacks. The Saints continued their relentless advances but Curro’s defenders held strong. The first charge at the goal was 31 seconds into the game, two St Mary’s players drove downfield, with a powered pass that glided just out of reach of the support player running onto the ball and rolled out of play.
Near the four-minute mark, Gemma Wood confidently strode into the Curro circle, stepped into a perfectly crafted reverse stick shot that flew into the net and scored the Saints their first goal. Curro knuckled down and, with their sticks to the turf, pushed back for more than eight minutes.
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During Curro’s resistance, the home team defender, Karla Roberts, was a wizard with her stick on the baseline and stopped three rockets during three short corner shots.
With the clock on 12 and a half minutes, Louisa Combrink hit the ball in for their sixth short corner, from the castle. Play shifted wide and, with a quick tap pass finding Combrink, a hole in the defense was identified and the ball was knocked into the net for St Mary’s second.
The team’s third goal was also a set piece during a short corner. Combrink sent the ball to the castle and found Dominque Carbonel, who neatly pocketed in another goal.
The fourth goal pinballed around the circle until it landed with Daniella De Oliveria, who gently tapped it into the net.
The coach for St Mary’s DSG, Kloof, Nolwazi ‘Chicken’ Nkabinde, said, “It is really good to be back. We missed the action and this tournament. My girls displayed fantastic skills today, something they can be proud of after the break. We want to say thank you to our competitors, without them, today would not have been possible. Well done to all for a brilliant day of hockey.”
Highway’s St Mary’s DSG, Kloof will join Danville Park Girls High School, from the Durban North regional, and Wembley College from Umvoti, uThukela and Umzinyathi regional as regional winners.
This weekend, the tournament will head to Richards Bay.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
