Hockey Report – 18 March 2024. The hockey club departed for various fixtures this past weekend to start off the season. U14A and u16A were both successful in their comprehensive wins away at Westering 7-0 and 6-0, respectively. At Home the u14B and 2^nd teams hosted Graeme College 14A and 1sts. U14 B going down in a goals galore game 3-7. 2nds were able to close the day off with a comprehensive 5-0 win. The 1^st XI Hockey team began their season with a match against Hudson Park at the annual Tony Godding Hockey Festival held in East London. The College team started the game slowly, shaking off some early season rust, but began to dominate possession. This translated into several scoring opportunities which the team took advantage of, most notably was David Semrau’s debut goal to open the scoring. St Andrews ended up winning the game 3-0. The festival resumed on Saturday with matches against Voortrekker Hoërskool and Merrifield College. Methodical, disciplined gameplay saw the St Andrews 1^st XI control both these matches, recording 3-0 and 5-0 victories, respectively.

The team’s festival had been building toward an inevitable final clash against the sporting powerhouse Grey College. Both teams had recorded good results in the festival and the stage was set for an epic finale. The opening phases were dominated by Grey College, but the St Andrews defense held firm under significant pressure with some spectacular saves from Lulutho Dyakala as goalkeeper. Just after half-time, a well worked short corner saw St Andrews score the opening goal through Kumkani Kabane. The team rallied and managed to take advantage of the stunned Grey College players, scoring a second goal in a matter of minutes. Grey College fought back valiantly and managed to recover a goal through a short corner of their own, but the St Andrews boys controlled the final stages of the game to see out the remarkable 2-1 victory.