{"id":57817,"date":"2024-09-25T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=57817"},"modified":"2024-09-25T12:00:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T10:00:29","slug":"st-stithians-successfully-defends-nedbank-grey-soccer-tournament-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=57817","title":{"rendered":"St Stithians successfully defends Nedbank Grey Soccer Tournament title"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"St
St Stithians College players and the school’s supporters celebrate a successful defence of the Nedbank Grey College Soccer Tournament title.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The defending champions, St Stithians College,<\/strong> on Tuesday, pulled off a hard-fought defence of the Nedbank Grey College Soccer Tournament<\/strong> title they won for the first time in 2023<\/p>\n

With two titles from three visits to the tournament, they boast a remarkable record. Facing some of the best teams in the country and playing a congested four-day programme, that’s some achievement.<\/p>\n

This time, the Saints’ challenge was almost scuppered on the first day of action, when they lost their first two games, going down 1-2 to Grey College<\/strong> and 0-2 to Pretoria Boys High<\/strong>. They got back on track in their third game, scoring a tight 3-2 win over George Royal Academy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Thankfully for St Stithians, they hit their straps on day two, charging to a 4-2 win over Victoria Park<\/strong> and a big 5-1 defeat of Durban High School (DHS)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

With momentum on their side, Saints handled a potential banana skin fixture against a dangerous Brebner High School<\/strong> side with aplomb, cruising to a 4-1 win in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

In the semi-finals, they had to lean on their big-match temperament (BMT) to get by Kimberley Boys’ High<\/strong>. The contest went to a penalty shootout after the teams had finished regulation time level at 1-1. St Stithians clinched their place in the final with a 4-2 win from the spot.<\/p>\n

When they faced Cape Town’s Robinvale<\/strong> for the trophy, they again needed BMT to get by their opponents.<\/p>\n

Robinvale grabbed the lead early in the second half, but Jason Oliver<\/strong>, who was named the Striker of the Tournament, netted an equaliser. Then, just as it seemed that Saints would have to go to penalties for a second match in a row, their captain, Liam Slattery<\/strong>, snatched a late winner.<\/p>\n

Wynberg Boys’ High<\/strong> finished third after edging out Kimberley Boys’ High<\/strong> 5-4 on penalties. The teams had finished regulation time all square at 2-2.<\/p>\n

That was tough on Kimberley Boys’ High, who twice lost out from the penalty spot in the playoffs. Their only loss in regulation time was a 2-3 defeat against the runners-up, Robinvale, in their group opener.<\/p>\n

Grey College beat their Bloemfontein rivals, Navalsig<\/strong>, 2-0 to finish fifth, while Westville Boys’ High had to settle for eighth after going down 1-2 to Brebner. It was a good thing they made it to the tournament. Extreme weather conditions on Van Reenen’s Pass doubled their usual travel time to Bloemfontein, making it a harrowing 12-hour trip.<\/p>\n

PLAYOFF RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

23\/24
\n<\/strong>Curro Bloemfontein 3-1 Glenwood High School<\/p>\n

21\/22
\n<\/strong>Bloemfontein South (11) 2-2 (10) St Andrew’s School<\/p>\n

19\/20
\n<\/strong>Victoria Park 1-0 Durban High School<\/p>\n

Bowl Final (17\/18)
\n<\/strong>King Edward VII School 1-0 Empangeni High School<\/p>\n

15\/16
\n<\/strong>Parktown High School 2-1 St David’s Marist Inanda<\/p>\n

13\/14
\n<\/strong>HTS Louis Botha 3-0 Pretoria Boys High<\/p>\n

11\/12
\n<\/strong>Norkem Park High School 2-1 Hodisa Technical School<\/p>\n

Plate Final (9\/10)
\n<\/strong>Jeppe High School 4-2 George Royal Academy<\/p>\n

7\/8
\n<\/strong>Brebner High School 2-1 Westville Boys’ High<\/p>\n

5\/6
\n<\/strong>Grey College 2-0 Navalsig<\/p>\n

3\/4
\n<\/strong>Wynberg Boys’ High (5) 2-2 (4) Kimberley Boys’ High<\/p>\n

Challenge Cup Final
\n<\/strong>St Stithians College 2-1 Robinvale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The defending champions, St Stithians College, on Tuesday, pulled off a hard-fought defence of the Nedbank Grey College Soccer Tournament title they won for the first time in 2023 With two titles from three visits to the tournament, they boast a remarkable record. Facing some of the best teams in the country and playing a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":57833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57817","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\/57817","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\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}