St Mary's D.S.G takes top honours in the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge Grand Finals. Pic: Rogan Ward

A saintly affair concluded an epic weekend of hockey at the Grand Finals of the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge, with host school St Mary’s D.S.G. claiming the trophy for the sixth time.

 
In their eleventh appearance at the Grand Finals, Saints took on visiting Pietermaritzburg school, St John’s D.S.G. in the main game of the tournament. Saints have a successful history at the Grand Finals, a fourth place, two bronze medals, two silvers and now adding one more gold, to their impressive previous five victories.
 
From the whistle, the home team didn’t allow the visitors any time to find their feet. St Mary’s got the ball rolling with an attacking move taking play straight up to the St John’s circle. They earned their first penalty corner after 87 seconds of play. St Mary’s game plan for the short corners was simple, send the ball to the top D and fire it into goals. St John’s defence stood solid for the set pieces, led by on-her-toes keeper, Diane Norman who didn’t allow any of the penalty corners in.
 
For the majority of the game, the locals crafted a barrage of relentless attempts, with their first success coming after 4 and a half minutes, being netted by Jamie da Silva. 80 seconds later, teammate, Alex Bowyer found a hole slotting in a slick, well-worked manoeuvre, taking the scoreline up to 2 nil.
 
After two goals in the first six minutes, St John’s dug deep, not allowing the five times’ winners any space to magic up more goals in the first half. With 3 and a half minutes left on the clock before half time, St John’s were awarded their first short corner. A superb set up saw the visitors probing for their first goal. Somehow, by some miracle the bombardment of efforts did not find their way into the goal, giving Saints a 2 nil breather at half time.
 
Nailing in her second of the game, da Silva took the score up to 3 nil after 100 seconds of play in the second half.
 
Birthday girl, Georgia Pollock, Captain of St Mary’s D.S.G. shared after her teams’ win, ‘Ah it was such a highlight for the whole team and very special for us matrics to end the much-anticipated SPAR tournament with a win! We just continued to play our brand of hockey throughout the weekend and stuck to our tactics whilst having fun at the same time. It’s great to see our coaches’ vision coming to life. We have such a special group of girls, and all get along so well regardless of our different ages. I also have to give credit to our incredible saints sisters who always show up and support us, it’s so motivating and we really appreciate them.’
 
In the twelfth Grand Finals, several teams bettered their milestones set from previous years. Hoisting the trophy for the sixth time, St Mary’s go one up to their rival Durban Girls College in overall wins. Both teams were level on five wins since the tournament’s inception in 2011.
 
This was St John’s third run at the Grand Finals, with each year improving their overall standing. Their first Grand Finals in 2017, they finished fourth, followed by a bronze medal two years ago, and now a silver. With their ‘grand’ result, they also add their name to a short list of two Pietermaritzburg Central Regional schools to have earned a silver in this tournament. The only other team to play in the gold medal game has been Girls’ High, with their last silver in 2015.
 
The Wykeham Collegiate, representing the Pietermaritzburg North Region also notched up their best results in their three Grand Finals. With two fourth places, Wykeham defeated the defending champions, Durban Girls’ College to secure their first bronze at the challenge.
 
The SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge goes into hibernation until February next year, where the challenge will be celebrating its fifteenth year since its inaugural tournament in 2011.
 

Results

1 St Mary’s D.S.G.; 2 St John’s D.S.G.; 3 The Wykeham Collegiate; 4 Durban Girls’ College; 5 Our Lady of Fatima; 6 Ferrum High School; 7 St Patrick’s College; 8 Grantleigh School; 9 Amanzimtoti High School; 10 Ladysmith High School