Girls gear up for hockey challenge

St Patrick’s College will host 10 schools in the upcoming Sisonke and Ugu Regional, the eighth regional in the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge, this Saturday, April 20.

Joining the hosts are defending champions Suid-Natal Hoërskool, Port Shepstone High, Bergview College, Curro Creston, Ixopo High, King Edward High, Kokstad College, Southcity Christian School and St Monica’s Diocesan.

The teams will be split into two pools, with Pool A featuring St Patrick’s, St Monica’s, Kokstad College, Sheppie High and Ixopo High.

Pool B has King Edward High, Suid-Natal, Bergview, Creston and Southcity.

The duration of the matches are 15 minutes one way, with a win earning the successful team four points; a draw with goals, two points, a goalless draw one point and, finally, a loss with no points.

The first game tips off at 08:00 with St Patrick’s meeting St Monica’s in the first game. Next up at 08:15, from Pool B, Kokstad College will meet the travelling team, Sheppie High. After a game break, St Patrick’s is back on the turf facing Ixopo High at 08.30.

After the pool games, if two teams find themselves on equal points, goal difference will come into play to see who finishes higher on the log. In the cross-pool games, drawn games will head to a three-round penalty shootout.

In the 14 years since the tournament’s inception, there have been four teams that have raised the trophy.
Recently, the inland teams of Kokstad College and King Edward High have dominated after dethroning Creston after they won it twice in 2012 and 2013.

Kokstad had victories in 2011, 2014 and 2019, with King Edward High being crowned five times in 2015 – 2018 and 2022.

Most recently, the newcomer to the group, Suid-Natal, earned their first victory last year after defeating Kokstad College.

The challenge, which travels to 10 regions annually, has already had seven teams earning their spot at the grand finals that will be held in July at St Mary’s DSG.

The teams are Durban Girls’ College (Durban Central Regional), Wykeham Collegiate (Pietermaritzburg North Regional), and St John’s DSG. (Pietermaritzburg central regional), Our Lady of Fatima (Durban North regional), St Mary’s DSG (Highway regional), Amanzimtoti High (Durban South regional) and at the most recent regional, the winner for the Northern KZN coastal regional, and Grantleigh School.

All games will be live-streamed on SuperSport Schools. For more info, like the tournament’s Facebook page: SparSchoolGirlsHockeyTournament or follow on Instagram: sparkznhockey

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