For the fourth consecutive year, the Pietermaritzburg Central Regional was decided in a nail-biting penalty shootout with St John’s D.S.G claiming their fourth title at the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge hosted by Epworth School .

St John’s met host school and defending champs, Epworth School in the regional final that flowed to all corners of the astro. Both teams had moments of pure brilliance where they crafted fantastic attacks after mounting pressure, bursting into each other’s circles, only for magical defence to turn play around, sending it back to the other side. 

Epworth earned three short corners; the first surge was after 68 seconds of play. St John’s were up for the challenge and didn’t allow the set pieces to pierce their defence. On the other end, St John’s had two short corners. Their first was an elaborate run around, with the ball being injected to the top of the circle, moving left, then back to the injector who pushed it back up to the tip of the circle before the player at the top of the D was in possession again. Epworth’s defenders tracked the ball carefully, charging down the ball before the attacker could finish her flamboyant shot. St John’s second set piece was awarded with only 12 seconds left on the clock. Slowing things down, St John’s went back to basics with a skilful, simple manoeuvre of pushing the ball to the castle, and fired off a ferocious flick that was neatly stopped. The score remained on nil nil after fulltime. 

Six players lined up for both teams with the responsibility of taking the penalty shootouts. First to go was St John’s Ananbele Balmer who drifted to her left, slotting the ball under a diving Epworth keeper, Kenya Zwane. Siphokazi Mpantshane stepped up to take the first round for Epworth. Mpantshane made quick work of levelling the scoreline as she charged towards St John’s goal, spinning around – foxing the goalie, Deborah Lock with her 360, slotting in her shot. 

In the second round, Emma Williams trotted in for St John’s also veering left before changing tack, keeping the ball away from Zwane and knocking it in the middle of the goals. Young Owami Mthethwa had the task of levelling the score for Epworth. Unlocking her bravery, Lock danced off her line to confront Mthethwa who was advancing keenly. The bold move by Lock cut down the angle for Mthethwa, with a retreating Epworth’s striker, hurriedly trying to knock in her shot but was unable to, by an ‘on-the-ball’ Lock.

Stepping up in the final round, Kate van Breda had the opportunity to claim victory for St John’s if she managed to slot her shot in. She followed in similar fashion to Williams, resulting in a regional winning goal. The final score for St John’s was 3 to 1 goal for Epworth. 

A budding talent, representing St John’s with the whistle, a sincerely cheerful Marcel Diaz had an impressive day overseeing the hotly contested games. Grade 12 learner, Cara MacFarlane from Epworth School walked away with a brand-new Princess hockey stick in the lucky draw prize that was held in the 20 minute break ahead of the finals. 

The top ten teams will converge at the Grand Finals being held in July at St Mary’s D.S.G.. St John’s is the third team to secure their spot, joining Our Lady of Fatima (DBN North Regional) and Amanzimtoti High School (DBN South Regional). XYZ were crowned champion the following day (Sunday 15 March) in the Pietermaritzburg North Regional. Another six teams remain to be decided with the tournament travelling around KZN in the coming weeks.