{"id":36610,"date":"2024-03-03T16:19:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T14:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=36610"},"modified":"2024-03-03T16:19:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T14:19:30","slug":"kearsney-crowned-reef-cup-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=36610","title":{"rendered":"Kearsney crowned Reef Cup champions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-36644\" src=\"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/water-polo-kearsney-030324-1-400x228.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"228\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kearsney College<\/strong> capped off an outstanding campaign at the <strong>Reef Cup Water Polo Invitational Tournament <\/strong>with a 10\u20138 win over <strong>St Alban&#8217;s College<\/strong> in the final on Sunday to lift the title.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides were in top form and provided thrilling entertainment as they battled for supremacy in the 44-year-old event, which was hosted by <strong>St Stithians College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Kearsney qualified for the final by dominating Pool C, where they scored 81 goals and conceded only 21, for a goal difference of 60, which was the third-best goal difference during the group stages. They then scored 26 goals and conceded 10 against <strong>Reddam Helderfontein<\/strong> and <strong>St David&#8217;s Marist Inanda<\/strong> in the quarter- and semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p>St Alban&#8217;s, on the other hand, sailed through Pool B with ease before overcoming <strong>Woodridge<\/strong> 11-8 and <strong>Michaelhouse<\/strong> 9-6 in the quarter- and semi-finals respectively.<\/p>\n<p>A cracking final was expected, and the teams did not disappoint.<\/p>\n<p>Despite missing a penalty that could have put the KwaZulu-Natal side ahead, and going down 0-2 in the first few minutes of the first chukka, Kearsney seized control and dominated proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>Coach <strong>Nicholas Rodda<\/strong>&#8216;s charges denied St Alban&#8217;s possession and camped in front of the Johannesburg side&#8217;s goal, which required <strong>Chris Evans<\/strong>, the opposition goalkeeper, to make several saves. But Kearsney&#8217;s relentless attack was rewarded as they finished the first chukka leading 5\u20133.<\/p>\n<p>They carried their momentum into the second chukka and quickly buried two goals without reply. But St Alban&#8217;s was not done. They fought back and their resilience was rewarded with two goals. At the end of the chukka, though, they trailed their KZN opposition 5\u20137.<\/p>\n<p>St Alban&#8217;s headed into the championship quarter intent on not just equalising but taking control of the match. They had to begin by reducing their two-goal deficit and midway through the chukka they had pulled to within one of Kearsney.<\/p>\n<p>However, just when it seemed that coach<strong> Nardus Badenhorst<\/strong>&#8216;s side was on course to level matters, Kearsney brought forth a new wave of energy and pulled away to finish the chukka 9-7 to the good.<\/p>\n<p>In the fourth chukka, the waves of attack went from one end to the other. Much of the quarter was edge-of-seat entertainment, with the sides separated by only one goal after St Alban\u2019s had breached the Kearsney defence early in the final stanza.<\/p>\n<p>But the boys from Botha&#8217;s Hill held firm and repulsed the St Alban&#8217;s attempts at evening the score. Rodda&#8217;s side, though, missed their fair share of chances in front of the St Alban&#8217;s goal before <strong>Thomas Aylward<\/strong> found the back of the net to re-establish a two-goal advantage.<\/p>\n<p>With the two-goal cushion, Kearsney had two jobs: to minimise St Alban&#8217;s shots on goal and to keep out the ones they attempted. They were outstanding on both counts and deservedly finished as the victors.<\/p>\n<p>St David&#8217;s and Michaelhouse, who gave the finalists a good run for their money in the semifinals, met with third place on the line. St David&#8217;s won that contest 13-7.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Results<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rand Park 13-12 Crawford Lonehill<br \/>\nBeaulieu 6-7 Reddam Bedfordview<br \/>\nSteyn City 7-4 Reddam Umhlanga<br \/>\nParktown 11-7 Falcon<br \/>\nGlenwood 7-12 St Peter&#8217;s<br \/>\nGrey College 10-14 DHS<br \/>\nReddam Helderfontein 5-8 Woodridge<br \/>\nSt Benedict&#8217;s 6-11 Affies<br \/>\nSt David&#8217;s 13-7 Michaelhouse<br \/>\nKearsney 10-8 St Alban&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p><strong>Final Standings<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Kearsney<br \/>\n2. St Alban&#8217;s<br \/>\n3. St David&#8217;s<br \/>\n4. Michaelhouse<br \/>\n5. Affies<br \/>\n6. St Benedict&#8217;s<br \/>\n7. Woodridge<br \/>\n8. Reddam Helderfontein<br \/>\n9. Durban High School<br \/>\n10. Grey College<br \/>\n11. St Peter&#8217;s<br \/>\n12. Glenwood<br \/>\n13. Parktown<br \/>\n14. Falcon College<br \/>\n15. Steyn City<br \/>\n16. Reddam Umhlanga<br \/>\n17. Reddam Bedfordview<br \/>\n18. Beaulieu<br \/>\n19. Rand Park<br \/>\n20. Crawford\u00a0Lonehill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kearsney College capped off an outstanding campaign at the Reef Cup Water Polo Invitational Tournament with a 10\u20138 win over St Alban&#8217;s College in the final on Sunday to lift the title. Both sides were in top form and provided thrilling entertainment as they battled for supremacy in the 44-year-old event, which was hosted by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":36644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36610","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\/36610","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}