{"id":73176,"date":"2025-05-24T07:33:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T05:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=73176"},"modified":"2025-05-24T07:33:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T05:33:27","slug":"top-seeds-thrive-on-day-one-of-the-st-annes-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=73176","title":{"rendered":"Top seeds thrive on day one of the St Anne\u2019s Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_73191\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73191\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-73191\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/hockey-voortrekker-230525-400x279.jpg\" alt=\"Voortrekker was in action in the most tightly contested group, Pool D, and, unfortunately for the Bethlehem side, despite giving a good account of themselves, they fell to two hard-fought losses. Photo: Brad Morgan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"279\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73191\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Voortrekker was in action in the most tightly contested group, Pool D, and, unfortunately for the Bethlehem side, despite giving a good account of themselves, they fell to two hard-fought losses. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>St Mary&#8217;s DSG, Kloof<\/strong>, <strong>Durban Girls&#8217; College (DGC)<\/strong>, <strong>St Anne&#8217;s,<\/strong> and <strong>Eunice<\/strong> headed into the <strong>St Anne&#8217;s Cup<\/strong>, being hosted by St Anne&#8217;s in Hilton, as the top seeds. All four reached the semifinals last year, and they did not disappoint on day one of the 2025 event.<\/p>\n<p>That quartet was unbeaten at the close of the first day of the tournament, which runs through until Sunday, when the final takes place.<\/p>\n<p>Despite featuring three teams, <strong>Pool A<\/strong> was a two-horse race between St Anne&#8217;s and <strong>Menlopark<\/strong>. They took turns at competing to see who could fire more goals past the <strong>Worcester Gimnasium<\/strong> goalkeeper before they went head-to-head.<\/p>\n<p>St Anne&#8217;s teed off first and drilled seven unanswered goals past Worcester Gim. That margin of victory was the biggest of the day until Menlopark balled out against the Western Cape side. Coach <strong>Brad Brook<\/strong>&#8216;s charges were on song and rolled to a 9-0 victory.<\/p>\n<p>St Anne&#8217;s and Menlopark went head-to-head later in the early evening, and the hosts sparkled on their way to a 2-0 win to secure a quarterfinal showdown against <strong>Our Lady of Fatima<\/strong> on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n<p>St Mary&#8217;s DSG, Kloof, ruled the roost in <strong>Pool B<\/strong>. They got their title defence off to a positive start with a 2-1 win over <strong>The Wykeham Collegiate (TWC).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hockey - St Mary Kloof vs Ho\u00ebrskool Waterkloof - St Anne&amp;apos;s Cup - 23 May 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yI2Y5sV3DLk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Coach <strong>Nolwazi Nkabinde<\/strong>\u2019s side faced a sterner test when they went up against <strong>Waterkloof<\/strong> later in the day. There were moments when St Mary&#8217;s DSG Kloof found themselves under the pump as the <em><strong>Klofies <\/strong><\/em>went on the offensive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jenna-Leigh Freese<\/strong> and <strong>Ella Bowyer<\/strong> stood firm in the midfield and at the back, however, as St Mary&#8217;s faced down the challenge and emerged 2-1 victors, courtesy of a brace from <strong>Georgia Short<\/strong>. That victory secured them a quarterfinal fixture against <strong>St John&#8217;s DSG<\/strong>, who finished second in Pool C.<\/p>\n<p>The Pietermaritzburg school came in behind Eunice in their group. Coach <strong>Nika Coertzen&#8217;<\/strong>s side reached the semifinals last year and the Bloemfontein girls hit the ground running in their first outing, putting on a dominant showing in a big 8-1 win over <strong>Noordheuwel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hockey - Eunice High School vs Ho\u00ebrskool Noordheuwel - St Anne&amp;apos;s Cup - 23 May 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EFU3YtjCMMY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>That win was the second-highest margin of victory on day one, matching the margin recorded by St Anne&#8217;s against Worcester Gim.<\/p>\n<p>Coertzen&#8217;s charges followed up that comprehensive win with a 2-1 triumph over St John&#8217;s DSG. By finishing atop Pool C, they booked a quarterfinals showdown with the Pool B runner-up, Waterkloof.<\/p>\n<p>Last year&#8217;s finalists, DGC was the first side to advance to the quarterfinals. Coach <strong>Chardinay Penniston<\/strong>\u2019s ladies overcame the challenges of Our Lady of Fatima and <strong>Voortrekker (Bethlehem) <\/strong>by identical scores.<\/p>\n<p>First up, at 08:00 in the morning, they locked horns with familiar foes, Our Lady of Fatima, who gave them a good run for their money However, DGC had a little more in the tank and triumphed 2-1.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_73193\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73193\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-73193\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/hockey-voortrekker-fatima-230525-1-400x290.jpg\" alt=\"Our Lady of Fatima struck from a penalty corner to score a crucial victory over Voortrekker, which earned the Durban school a place in the quarterfinals. Photo: Brad Morgan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"290\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73193\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our Lady of Fatima struck from a penalty corner to score a crucial victory over Voortrekker, which earned the Durban school a place in the quarterfinals. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the afternoon, DGC squared up to Voortrekker. The ladies from Bethlehem put up a good fight and enjoyed the better of the opening half, but DGC came from behind to snatch a 2-1 win.<\/p>\n<p>Their reward is a tricky tie against Menlopark for a place in the semifinals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pool A<\/p>\n<p>St Anne&#8217;s 7-0 Worcester Gim<br \/>\nMenlopark 9-0 Worcester Gim<br \/>\nSt Anne&#8217;s 2-0 Menlopark<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pool B<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>St Mary&#8217;s DSG, Kloof 2-0 TWC<br \/>\nWaterkloof 3-0 TWC<br \/>\nSt Mary&#8217;s DSG, Kloof 2-1 Waterkloof<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pool C<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>St John&#8217;s DSG 2-1 Noordheuwel<br \/>\nEunice 8-1 Noordheuwel<br \/>\nEunice 2-1 St John&#8217;s DSG<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pool D<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>DGC 2-1 Our Lady of Fatima<br \/>\nOur Lady of Fatima 2-0 Voortrekker (Bethlehem)<br \/>\nDGC 2-1 Voortrekker (Bethlehem)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>St Mary&#8217;s DSG, Kloof, Durban Girls&#8217; College (DGC), St Anne&#8217;s, and Eunice headed into the St Anne&#8217;s Cup, being hosted by St Anne&#8217;s in Hilton, as the top seeds. All four reached the semifinals last year, and they did not disappoint on day one of the 2025 event. That quartet was unbeaten at the close [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":73191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73176","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\/73176","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=73176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}