{"id":77648,"date":"2025-07-17T18:36:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T16:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=77648"},"modified":"2025-07-17T18:36:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T16:36:16","slug":"defending-champs-pinetown-and-st-marys-dsg-off-to-strong-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=77648","title":{"rendered":"Defending champs, Pinetown and St Mary’s DSG, off to strong starts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kearsney
Kearsney College and Queensburgh High shared a goalless draw in a key Group C clash. They’re the frontrunners in Group C after the first day of competition. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thursday, day one of the third Kearsney Soccer Tournament<\/strong> dawned mild and sunny, with the Botha’s Hill campus presenting an inviting canvas for the 36 teams spread across high school, girls’ high school, and primary school divisions.<\/p>\n

Catch the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Much was expected of Pinetown Boys’ High, the defending champion<\/strong><\/a> and recent winner of the Kloof High Football Tournament<\/strong><\/a>, at which they beat the Absa Wildeklawer winner, Virginia High<\/strong><\/a>, in a superb final. In a key clash, Pinetown beat Glenwood High<\/strong> 2-1, but they were held to a goalless draw by Gqeberha’s Urban Academy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Eastern Cape side made its mark in Group C, also bagging 3-0 victories over Glenwood and Curro Somerset West<\/strong> in their other outings, which leaves them top of the group standings heading into day two.<\/p>\n

Maqhutshana A<\/strong> tops the table in Group A, also with two wins and a draw. They shared a 1-1 result with Clifton College<\/strong> but then overran Maqhutshana B<\/strong> 5-0 and scored a 2-0 win over Trinityhouse Rand Park Ridge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Clifton boosted their chances of progressing to the Cup quarterfinals by dispatching Maqhutshana B 5-2 in their second match, while Maqhutshana B also recorded a 3-0 win over Trinityhouse.<\/p>\n

\"Pinetown
Pinetown Boys’ High edged out Glenwood 2-1 in crucial Group B clash. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Group B, featuring the hosts, Kearsney College<\/strong>, is wide open heading into the last round of group matches on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Kearsney drew 0-0 with Queensburgh High<\/strong> but then outplayed Grace College<\/strong> 4-0.<\/p>\n

Queensburgh, meanwhile, beat Sutherland<\/strong> 2-1, and Sutherland won by the same score against Grace.<\/p>\n

Queensburgh will feel confident heading into their last group game against Grace College on Friday, but Kearsney faces what appears to be a stiffer challenge from Sutherland.<\/p>\n

Siyajabula High<\/strong> laid down a marker in Group D when they scorched to a 4-1 win over Durban High School (DHS)<\/strong>, the winner of the inaugural Kearsney Soccer Tournament in 2023, in their opener.<\/p>\n

Curro Hazeldean<\/strong>, though, held Siyajabula to a 1-1 draw in their second outing. The Pretoria school also beat Ashton Ballito<\/strong> 2-0. DHS also comfortably dealt with Ashton, cruising to a 4-1 win.<\/p>\n

Girls’ competition<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the girls’ competition, the defending champion, St Mary’s DSG (Kloof)<\/strong>, made an emphatic start to their title defence, overrunning Crawford College La Lucia<\/strong> 6-1 and Trinity House Rand Park Ridge 5-1.<\/p>\n

At the same time, though, Durban Girls’ High<\/strong> also bagged two one-sided wins in Group A, overpowering Trinity House 6-2 and Crawford La Lucia 8-2. That leaves them one goal better off than St Mary’s on goal difference.<\/p>\n

\"Durban
Durban Girls’ High enjoyed a prolific day in front of goal, banging in 14 goals in only two games. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 10:00, on Friday morning, St Mary’s DSG and Durban Girls’ High, will meet to decide who tops the standings.<\/p>\n

Group B is up for grabs, but Curro Hazeldean<\/strong> has the edge after a 3-1 win over Sastri College<\/strong> and a tight 3-2 defeat of Danville Park Girls’ High<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Danville Park, though, beat Ashton College 1-0, so they remain in the mix, and Ashton, after a 4-0 victory over Sastri College could also finish in the top two and claim a place in the cross-pool semi-finals.<\/p>\n

BOYS’ STANDINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Group A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trinityhouse Rand Park Ridge 0-3 Maqhutshana B
\nClifton College 1-1 Maqhutshana A
\nMaqhutshana B 2-5 Clifton College
\nMaqhutshana A 5-0 Maqhutshana B
\nTrinityhouse Rand Park Ridge 0-2 Maqhutshana A 2<\/p>\n

Group B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sutherland 1-2 Queensburgh High
\nKearsney College 4-0 Grace College
\nQueensburgh High 0-0 Kearsney College
\nSutherland 2-1 Grace College<\/p>\n

Group C<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curro Somerset West 0-3 Glenwood High
\nPinetown Boys’ High 0-0 Urban Academy
\nGlenwood High 1-2 Pinetown Boys’ High
\nUrban Academy 3-0 Glenwood
\nCurro Somerset West 0-3 Urban Academy<\/p>\n

Group D<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curro Hazeldean 2-0 Ashton Ballito
\nDurban High School 1-4 Siyajabula High
\nAshton Ballito 1-4 Durban High School
\nCurro Hazeldean 1-1 Siyajabula High<\/p>\n

GIRLS’ STANDINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Group A<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Mary’s DSG 6-1 Crawford La Lucia
\nTrinity House 1-5 St Mary’s DSG
\nDurban Girls’ High 6-2 Trinity House
\nCrawford La Lucia 2-8 Durban Girls’ High<\/p>\n

Group B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ashton College 0-1 Danville Park Girls’ High
\nSastri College 0-4 Ashton College
\nCurro Hazeldean 3-1 Sastri College
\nDanville Park Girls’ High 2-3 Curro Hazeldean<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday, day one of the third Kearsney Soccer Tournament dawned mild and sunny, with the Botha’s Hill campus presenting an inviting canvas for the 36 teams spread across high school, girls’ high school, and primary school divisions. Catch the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools Much was expected of Pinetown Boys’ High, the defending champion and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":77650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77648","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\/77648","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\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}