{"id":79835,"date":"2025-08-09T06:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T04:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=79835"},"modified":"2025-08-09T06:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T04:55:07","slug":"all-to-play-for-at-challengers-cup-as-teams-hunt-playoff-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=79835","title":{"rendered":"All to play for at Challengers&#8217; Cup as teams hunt playoff spots"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_79836\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-79836\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-79836\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Garsfontein-girls-400x266.jpg\" alt=\"St Mary\u2019s Waverley and Ho\u00ebrskool Garsfontein played out to a thrilling 2-2 draw on day two of the Challenger's Cup in Paarl. Photo: Nico de Wit\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-79836\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">St Mary\u2019s Waverley and Ho\u00ebrskool Garsfontein played to a thrilling 2-2 draw on day two of the Challengers&#8217; Cup, in Paarl. Photo: <strong>Nico de Wit<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Only five teams maintained their unbeaten records on Friday, day two of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/challengers-cup-title-up-for-grabs\/\"><strong>Challengers&#8217; Cup<\/strong><\/a>,<\/p>\n<p>The event is being played on the AstroTurfs of <strong>La Rochelle Girls&#8217; High <\/strong>and <strong>Paarl Girls&#8217; High <\/strong>and runs through until Sunday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.supersportschools.com\/category\/606f65f91eea03755e56797c\/sub-category\/68906274e458b066d0496e22\/\"><strong>Catch the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After making winning starts on the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/opening-day-of-challengers-cup-delivers-top-quality-hockey\/\">opening day<\/a><\/strong>, Pool A&#8217;s <strong>St Mary&#8217;s Waverley<\/strong> and <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Garsfontein<\/strong> met on Friday morning and played out an entertaining 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n<p>Coach <strong>Cindy Brown&#8217;<\/strong>s St Mary&#8217;s side was dominant and scored early through <strong>Kyla Grobbelaar<\/strong>. <strong>Erin Kr\u00fcger<\/strong> doubled their lead in the 28th minute, but the <strong><em>Garsies<\/em><\/strong> was not going down without a fight.<\/p>\n<p>They clawed their way back into the fixture with two late goals, scored by <strong>Emma Van Rooyen<\/strong> and <strong>Ern\u00e9 Kotze,<\/strong> to snatch a dramatic draw and make matters in Pool A very interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the day, St Mary&#8217;s defeated <strong>Rustenburg Girls&#8217;<\/strong> <strong>High<\/strong> 1-0, thanks to a <strong>Zara Colyn<\/strong> strike, while Garsfontein was held to a 1-1 draw by <strong>Fairmont High<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Fairmont played some good hockey on day two and will fancy their chances of sneaking into the last four. They&#8217;re currently in third place, behind Garsfontein and St Mary&#8217;s, with five points and one group fixture remaining.<\/p>\n<p>Coach <strong>Wayne Coetzee&#8217;<\/strong>s Parel Vallei side occupies fourth place, followed by <strong>Springfield Convent School<\/strong> and <strong>St Cyprian&#8217;s School<\/strong>, who are still in search of their first win at the tournament.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_79837\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-79837\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-79837\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Herschel-cruising-in-Pool-B-400x266.jpg\" alt=\"Herschel Girls currently sit atop Pool B at the Challenger's Cup. Photo: Nico de Wit\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-79837\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Herschel Girls shares top spot in Pool B with Affies after day two of the Challengers&#8217; Cup. Photo: <strong>Nico de Wit<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pool B is also tight, with <strong>Herschel Girls School<\/strong> and Pretoria&#8217;s <strong>Afrikaanse Ho\u00ebr Meisieskool<\/strong> <strong>(Affies) <\/strong>setting the pace with seven points each after recording two wins and a draw in their three matches.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Affies was held to a goalless draw by <strong>Paarl Girls&#8217; High<\/strong>. Later on, <strong>Mikela Harmse <\/strong>notched a brace in a hard-fought 2-0 win over <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Outeniqua<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Herschel, meanwhile, drew 1-1 with Ho\u00ebrskool Outeniqua and defeated <strong>Durban Girls&#8217; College<\/strong> <strong>(DGC)<\/strong> 2-1, with <strong>Georgia Nicklin<\/strong> and <strong>Teagan Williamson<\/strong> getting their names onto the scoresheet in that win.<\/p>\n<p>The Pool B leaders square off on Saturday at 10:00.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into day three, Paarl Girls&#8217; High and Outeniqua lie third and fourth respectively in the Pool B standings, with four points each after three matches.<\/p>\n<p>Their chances of making the semifinals are slim, but they&#8217;ll know that anything&#8217;s possible in tournament hockey, and things can change quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Outeniqua takes on Springfield and DGC on day three, while Paarl Girls&#8217; High tackles Herschel and DGC.<\/p>\n<p>The action starts at 08:00, and all the matches will be streamed live on the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/live.supersportschools.com\/category\/606f65f91eea03755e56797c\/sub-category\/68906274e458b066d0496e22\/\">SuperSport Schools App<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day 2 | Results and scorers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pool A<\/p>\n<p><strong>Garsfontein 2<\/strong>: (Emma Van Rooyen, Ern\u00e9 Kotze). <strong>St Mary\u2019s Waverley 2<\/strong>: (Kyla Grobbelaar, Erin Kr\u00fcger).<br \/>\n<strong>Fairmont<\/strong> <strong>0-0<\/strong> <strong>St<\/strong> <strong>Cyprian&#8217;s School<br \/>\nFairmont 1: <\/strong>(Madison Ackerman)<strong>. Garsfontein 1: <\/strong>(Andrea Groenewald)<strong>.<br \/>\nParel Vallei 0-0 Rustenburg Girls&#8217; High<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>St Mary&#8217;s Waverley 1: (Zara Colyn). Rustenburg Girls&#8217; High 0.<br \/>\nParel Vallei 4<\/strong>: (Elrie Pienaar, Nikita Sulivan, Emihle Wulana, Lin\u00e9 Liebenberg). <strong>St Cyprian&#8217;s 2<\/strong>: (Carolyn Lord, Emily Brink).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pool B<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Durban Girls&#8217; College 1<\/strong>: (Mary Aylward). <strong>Springfield 0<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<strong>Outeniqua 1<\/strong>: (Mia Buxman). <strong>Herschel 1<\/strong>: (Heather Kane).<br \/>\n<strong>Parel Vallei<\/strong> <strong>0-0 Rustenburg Girls&#8217; High<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Paarl Girls&#8217; High<\/strong> <strong>0-0 Affies<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Herschel 2<\/strong>: (Georgia Nicklin, Teagan Williamson). <strong>Durban Girls&#8217; College 1<\/strong>: (Caprice Bengtson).<br \/>\n<strong>Affies 2<\/strong>: (Mikela Harmse 2). <strong>Outeniqua 0<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<strong>Paarl Girls&#8217; High 1<\/strong>: (Lucia Marcus). <strong>Springfield 0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day 3 | Fixtures<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>@La Rochelle\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>08:00<\/strong> &#8211; Outeniqua vs Springfield;\u00a0<strong>09:00<\/strong> &#8211; Durban Girls&#8217; College vs Paarl Girls&#8217; High; <strong>10:00<\/strong> &#8211; Herschel vs Affies; <strong>12:00<\/strong> \u2013 Outeniqua vs Durban Girls&#8217; College; <strong>13:00<\/strong> &#8211; Springfield vs Affies; <b>14:00 \u2013 <\/b>Paarl\u00a0Girls&#8217; High vs Herschel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>@Paarl Girls&#8217; High\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>08:00<\/strong> &#8211; St Cyprian&#8217;s vs Rustenburg Girls&#8217;; <strong>09:00<\/strong> &#8211; Parel Vallei vs Garsfontein;\u00a0<strong>10:00<\/strong> &#8211; St Mary&#8217;s Waverley vs Fairmont;\u00a0<strong>12:00<\/strong> &#8211; Rustenburg Girls&#8217; High vs Garsfontein; <strong>13:00<\/strong> &#8211; St Mary&#8217;s Waverley vs St Cyprian&#8217;s; <strong>14:00<\/strong> \u2013 Fairmont vs Parel Vallei.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only five teams maintained their unbeaten records on Friday, day two of the Challengers&#8217; Cup, The event is being played on the AstroTurfs of La Rochelle Girls&#8217; High and Paarl Girls&#8217; High and runs through until Sunday. Catch the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools After making winning starts on the opening day, Pool A&#8217;s St [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":79836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79835","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\/79835","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}