St Mary’s 1st Hockey Team riding the crest of the wave
On Thursday afternoon they went up against Westville Girl's High School. Both teams had been through the league unbeaten and so it promised to be a nail-biting match.
AFTER winning the KZN SPAR Regional Hockey Tournament at Thomas More, St Mary’s continued their winning streak to beat both Durban Girls’ College and Westville Girls’ High.
They played a cracker of a game against Durban Girls’ College on Wednesday, 18 May, where they were like a well-oiled machine moving the ball around the field with practised ease.
St Mary’s dominated from the start of the game, always looking calm and in control of the situation, and after several near-misses by the strikers, Tegan Fourie took charge with a scorcher of a shot from the top of the circle to beat the Durban Girls’ College goalie and put St Mary’s on the scorecard with a 1-0 lead into half-time.
Coach, Kelly Madsen, must have inspired her girls during the team talk because the St Mary’s players came out firing from the first minute. A second goal by Hannah Shirley with a dive in front of the goalposts opened the floodgates. Skilful goals by Tayla Putz, Leah Piggott and an amazing flick between the upright and the goalkeeper by Kiana Cormack sealed Durban Girls’ College fate with St Mary’s taking the win by five goals to nil at the close of play.
On Thursday afternoon they went up against Westville Girl’s High School. Both teams had been through the league unbeaten and so it promised to be a nail-biting match.
St Mary’s had a number of goal-scoring opportunities in the first half but the Westville goal keeper was on top of her game and kept everything out. Hannah Shirley from St Mary’s opened the scoring with a great hit off a short corner right into the bottom corner. Tayla Putz then followed suit not long after but this time into the opposite corner.
With a 2-0 lead at half time Westville came out with renewed energy and scored early on in the second half, making it an exciting 2-1 in St Mary’s favour. In the last ten minutes of the second half, Tegan Fourie’s piercing run through the middle with an aerial pass to Hannah Shirley gave Hannah the chance to smash it out of the air into the net, making it 3-1 to St Mary’s. Cailynn Den Bakker closed off the match with a slick goal for St Mary’s, ending the game 4-1 to St Mary’s.
