Hoisting the trophy for their third time, Felixton College are back on top of the North Coast Regional at this year’s SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge that took place at Grantleigh School on Saturday 10 May. 

 
Celebrating the 150th tournament since the challenge’s inception in 2011, Felixton met host school, Grantleigh School in the regional final. Grantleigh have had their name engraved on the trophy seven times, while Felixton only twice with CoViD interrupting their streak, with two back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019.
 
Opening up the tournament, Grantleigh faced Felixton in the first fixture of the day, where an Izzy Currie goal gave the home team a 1 nil victory. They continued their victorious path, winning their five remaining games and netting a total of 22 goals in all of their round robin games. Felixton finished second on their log, with a total of 21 goals scored, and only registering the one loss in their six round robin games. 
 
In the concluding game of the North Coast Regional, a more focused and disciplined Felixton turned up to take on a confident Grantleigh team. Every attack from Grantleigh was snuffed by a determined Felixton. With their belief in themselves growing, Felixton launched their first real attack after five minutes, earning themselves their first short corner. 
 
Visiting player, Kathryn Johnston was allowed some space for some of her fancy footwork to gain yards down the field, spurring some surprise advances down the left side. Grantleigh’s defenders dug deep and managed to send play back up, with the game drifting from side to side, but no real threat at both goals. The final whistle blasted with the score set a nil nil. The regional was to be decided with both teams having three 8 second penalty chances. 
 
In an astonishing move, Grantleigh swopped out their keepers ahead of the penalties. Fresh looking Emma Nel was to defend in Grantleigh’s goals, giving Mia Bester who kept a clear sheet during the day, a breather. 
 
 First to go was Grantleigh’s Currie who wasted no time to slot in the first goal, running into the circle and dispensing her shot past Felixton’s Smilesihle Sibiya. Johnston cruised in, keeping the ball securely at her side as she spun past Nel, running the ball directly over the line to slot in Felixton’s leveller. A determined Pippa Saint strode her way into the circle, with a similar gameplan to Currie, firing off her shot a few steps into the circle. This time, a savvy Sibiya ushered the ball out of the circle as she charged down the attempt. Zara van der Merwe was next to go, drifting right, pulling Nel off her line. Van der Merwe slotted in her shot watching the ball as it rolled towards the far post but as fate would have it, the ball hit the upright and bounced back into play. Van der Merwe scrambled to the ball, reaching it just as the 8 second whistle blew. The scoreline was level at 1 all after two rounds. 
 
The home team’s Klaradyn Kotze cruised into the circle, biding her time as Sibiya dashed out to meet her. Kotze attempted to slip the ball under the charging Sibiya but was met with an on her toes keeper who abruptly halted the sneaky shot, and cleared it out of danger. Third to go for Felixton, Zenande Mncwabe faked going left, pulled right while Nel was directly behind her. Six steps into her run, Mncwabe had a gap away from Nel, turning and sending the ball goalwards. The ball rolled across the line mere milliseconds before the 8 second whistle, giving Felixton the win in dramatic style. 
 
After four years, Felixton claim back the trophy and advance to the Grand Finals where they will meet six teams that have earned a ticket already with three more regionals still to be played.  So far, St Mary’s D.S.G. (Highway Regional); newcomer Maris Stella (Durban Central Regional); Epworth School (Pietermaritzburg Central Regional); St Anne’s School (Pietermaritzburg North Regional); the second newcomer, Kingsway High School (Durban South Regional) and Ashton International College (Durban North Regional) will all be taking to the turf. 
 
For more info on the challenge, follow on various social media platforms. Photo credit: Rogan Ward
 

Results

Regional Final
Grantleigh School 0 (1) vs Felixton College 0 (2)
 
Round Robin
1 Grantleigh School 24pts; 2 Felixton College 20pts; 3 Empangeni High School 13pts; 4 St Catherine’s School 9pts; 5 John Ross High School 3pts; 6 Eshowe High School 3pts; 7 Richards Bay Christian School 2pts