{"id":41991,"date":"2024-04-18T16:50:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T14:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=41991"},"modified":"2024-04-18T16:50:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T14:50:39","slug":"st-marys-dsg-kloof-ready-for-duel-with-durban-girls-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=41991","title":{"rendered":"St Mary’s DSG (Kloof) ready for duel with Durban Girls’ College"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The St Mary’s DSG (Kloof) 1st hockey squad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Durban Girls’ College<\/strong> (DGC)<\/strong> hosts St Mary’s DSG (Kloof)<\/strong> on Saturday in a blockbuster KZN clash between two of the country’s best hockey teams.<\/p>\n

After winning the St Mary’s Festival in Johannesburg against the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of South Africa’s girls’ hockey sides, DGC <\/strong>is\u00a0riding the crest of the wave, but St Mary’s (Kloof), a perennial powerhouse, presents a serious challenge.<\/p>\n

Coach Carla Ann Mackay’s <\/strong>St Mary’s team has played a lot of hockey. The St Mary’s Festival<\/strong>, in Johannesburg, followed a tour of the Netherlands, and before jetting off overseas, St Mary’s had already participated in a festival and the Spar Regional Tournament.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We also played some local boys’ schools’ teams to train against face-paced and high-intensity hockey,” Mackay said.<\/p>\n

After the St Mary’s Festival, where they finished sixth, the Kloof girls took a break to regroup.<\/p>\n

One of the areas they have focussed on in preparation for Saturday’s showdown has been their attack. Mackay wants her team to play an attacking brand of hockey, with her forwards stretching the field. “It’s something we have been working really hard on,” she shared.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, they’ll be led by Cassandra Forbes<\/strong>, with their captain, Georgia Pollock<\/strong>, the daughter of South African cricket legend, Shaun Pollock, out of the game because of an injury.<\/p>\n

Losing the SA u17 star is a big blow and it means St Mary’s will have to shuffle their lineup. But they will be fresh, fast and sharp after taking some time off.<\/p>\n

Mackay can count on Elizabeth Anderson’s<\/strong> goal-scoring skills up front, Anna Birt’s<\/strong> ball-carrying abilities and strength in marshalling the midfield, and Sibabalwe Mfaweza’s <\/strong>contributions out wide. <\/strong>\u00a0A member of the u16 national squad, she provides both go-forward and solid defence from her position at half.<\/p>\n

That trio will need to be at their best when they take on DGC who, understandably, are high in confidence.<\/p>\n

“We would like to defend our KZN league championship title and a win at the Spar finals would be amazing, but our main goal is a shot at Top 12 in August,” said Mackay. A win over DGC would be a big boost to their long-term plans, she added.<\/p>\n

While they’re expecting a challenging encounter, Cassandra Forbes and company are confident they have the firepower to win. When they met in a league match last year, St Mary’s ran out 4-1 winners. Earlier this year, when they met in a 20-minute match during a festival, DGC claimed a 1-0 win.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in KZN, Our Lady pf Fatima<\/strong> takes on Westville Girls’ High<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, many eyes will be cast towards the Western Cape where Oranje<\/strong> faces Paarl Girls’ High <\/strong>on Friday and Paarl Gim<\/strong> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

In their five past encounters against Paarl Gim, Gyster van Schalkwyk’s<\/strong> team has won three, lost one, and drawn one. That draw came in their last clash, which ended 1-1 at the St Mary’s Festival.<\/p>\n

Oranje has enjoyed a better run against Paarl Girls’ High, winning four out of their last five games, with the other one ending in a draw at the St Mary’s Festival in 2019.<\/p>\n

Fixtures<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday<\/strong>: Fichardtpark vs Eunice, Our Lady of Fatima vs Curro Hillcrest, Fichardtpark vs Sentraal, Jim Fouche vs St Michael’s School<\/p>\n

Friday<\/strong>: Paarl Girls’ High vs Oranje<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/strong>: DGC vs St Mary’s (Kloof), Paarl Gim vs Oranje, Our Lady of Fatima vs Westville Girls’ High, Jim Fouche vs Diamantveld<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Durban Girls’ College (DGC) hosts St Mary’s DSG (Kloof) on Saturday in a blockbuster KZN clash between two of the country’s best hockey teams. After winning the St Mary’s Festival in Johannesburg against the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of South Africa’s girls’ hockey sides, DGC is\u00a0riding the crest of the wave, but St Mary’s (Kloof), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":42036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41991","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\/41991","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=41991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41991\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}