{"id":35706,"date":"2024-02-23T18:40:17","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T16:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=35706"},"modified":"2024-02-23T18:40:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T16:40:17","slug":"day-1-balling-oranje-remains-unbeaten-while-saints-shock-eunice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=35706","title":{"rendered":"DAY 1 | BALLING | Oranje remains unbeaten while Saints shock Eunice"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_35713\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-35713\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-35713 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/hockey-st-stithians-230224-400x271.jpg\" alt=\"Smiles all round for St Stithians after a 4-2 win over Eunice.\" width=\"400\" height=\"271\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-35713\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smiles all round for St Stithians after a 4-2 win over Eunice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The opening day of the 2024 <strong>Balling Hockey Festival<\/strong> in Bethlehem delivered upsets and goals, with teams seeking to hit their stride quickly in preparation for the new season.<\/p>\n<p>The tournament is hosted at three venues, the <strong>Marl\u00e9 Claasen Astro<\/strong> at <strong>Voortrekker<\/strong>, <strong>New Horizon College<\/strong>, and <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Witteberg<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Bloemfontein&#8217;s <strong>Oranje<\/strong> was quickly into the swing of things on Friday and won both of their matches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gyster van Schalkwyk&#8217;<\/strong>s side made a positive start to their season, with a convincing 3-0 win over <strong>St John&#8217;s DSG<\/strong> in the third match of the day at the Marl\u00e9 Claasen Astro.<\/p>\n<p>That match was followed by a showdown between St Stithians College and Eunice High. The Bloemfontein lasses had ended 2023 ranked number one in the country, but Saints showed character and grit to get one over their highly regarded opponents.<\/p>\n<p>Coach <strong>Lance Louw&#8217;<\/strong>s side entered the match as the underdogs, but they soon showed they were up for the challenge. At half-time, the teams were level at 1-1.<\/p>\n<p>After the break, the Johannesburg side struck three times while conceding only once to claim a significant 4-2 victory. Later, though, they ran into an assured Oranje and were well beaten.<\/p>\n<p><strong>St Anne&#8217;s<\/strong> also got the ball rolling in the right direction with victories over <strong>Voortrekker<\/strong>\u00a0and <strong>Beaulieu College<\/strong> respectively.<\/p>\n<p>There was also a win for their fellow-KZN school, <strong>Epworth<\/strong>, who outplayed Graaff-Reinet&#8217;s <strong>Union High<\/strong> 3-0. Union also went down to <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool\u00a0Sasolberg<\/strong>, and they&#8217;ll be chasing their first goals of the season on Saturday after conceding five in their two games on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>At the New Horizon College Astro, <strong>Noordheuwel<\/strong> and <strong>St Dominic&#8217;s College<\/strong> were the teams on fire.<\/p>\n<p>Norries claimed wins against the Epworth and Oranje second teams, while St Dominic&#8217;s made light work of Witteberg and <strong>Potchefstroom Volkskool<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Day two begins with a clash between Potchefstroom Volkskool, and Union High at <strong>07:00<\/strong>, at Voortrekker, while the Oranje second stringers take on Wykeham at the New Horizon Astro.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Results: Day 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Marle Claassen Astro | Voortrekker <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>St Anne&#8217;s 3-1 Voortrekker<br \/>\nHoerskool Sasolburg 2-0 Union High School<br \/>\nOranje 3-0 St John&#8217;s DSG<br \/>\nPotchefstroom Volkskool 1-1 Oranje II<br \/>\nSt Stithians College 4-2 Eunice<br \/>\nBeaulieu 1-1 Wykeham<br \/>\nVoortrekker 1-1 St John&#8217;s DSG<br \/>\nEpworth 3-0 Union High<br \/>\nSt Anne&#8217;s 3-2 Beaulieu<br \/>\nOranje 10-0 St Stithians College<br \/>\nEunice 4-2 Wykeham<\/p>\n<p><strong>New Horizon Astro:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Noordheuwel 4-0 Epworth<br \/>\nNoordheuwel 4-3 Oranje II<br \/>\nHoerskool Sasolburg 3-1 Witteberg<br \/>\nMonument 4-0 Our Lady Fatima<br \/>\nSt Dominic&#8217;s College 4-0 Witteberg<br \/>\nSt Dominic&#8217;s College 3-0 Potchefstroom Volkskool<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day 2 | Saturday, 24 February 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Marle Claassen Astro | Voortrekker <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>07:00 &#8211;<\/strong> Potchefstroom Volkskool vs Union HS; <strong>07:55 &#8211;<\/strong> Epworth vs St Dominic&#8217;s College; <strong>08:50 &#8211;<\/strong> Voortrekker vs Oranje; <strong>10:40 &#8211;<\/strong> St Anne&#8217;s vs Noordheuwel; <strong>11:35 &#8211;<\/strong> Monument vs Witteberg; <strong>12:30<\/strong> <strong>&#8211; <\/strong>St John&#8217;s DSG vs Eunice; <strong>13:25 &#8211;<\/strong> Oranje vs Noordheuwel; <strong>14:20 &#8211;<\/strong> Voortrekker vs St Stithians College; <strong>15:15 &#8211;<\/strong> Eunice vs St Anne&#8217;s; <strong>16:10 &#8211;<\/strong> Beaulieu vs St John&#8217;s DSG<\/p>\n<p><strong>New Horizon Astro<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>07:00 &#8211;<\/strong> Oranje II vs Wykeham; <strong>07:55 &#8211;<\/strong> Our Lady of Fatima vs Ho\u00ebrskool Sasolburg; <strong>10:40 &#8211;<\/strong> Beaulieu vs St Stithians College; <strong>11:35 &#8211;<\/strong> Union HS vs Oranje II; <strong>12:30 &#8211;<\/strong> Potchefstroom Volkskool vs Epworth; <strong>13:25 &#8211;<\/strong> Ho\u00ebrskool Sasolburg vs Wykeham; <strong>15:15 &#8211;<\/strong> Witteberg vs Our Lady of Fatima; <strong>16:10 &#8211;<\/strong> Monument vs St Dominic&#8217;s College<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The opening day of the 2024 Balling Hockey Festival in Bethlehem delivered upsets and goals, with teams seeking to hit their stride quickly in preparation for the new season. The tournament is hosted at three venues, the Marl\u00e9 Claasen Astro at Voortrekker, New Horizon College, and Ho\u00ebrskool Witteberg. Bloemfontein&#8217;s Oranje was quickly into the swing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":35713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}