The Diocesan School for Girls sent four teams to the Western Cape over the weekend. The DSG 1st hockey team played in the inaugural Springfest Hockey Festival, hosted by Springfield Convent, the DSG U16A hockey and netball teams played in the Champions Cup Tournament hosted by Rustenburg girls, while the DSG 2nd hockey team played in the Oakhill Hockey Festival in Knysna. These events drew schools from around the country.
The DSG 1st hockey team gave a good account of themselves in the Springfield festival, with two wins, one draw and two losses. The wins were over the hosts Springfield Convent (1-0) and St Cyprians (2-1). In an interesting twist, the University of Cape Town had a team at the festival, which offered all the schools an opportunity to test themselves against more experienced players. The DSG 1st team was the only school side to secure a result against the students – DSG went out to a 2-0 lead in the game before the students pegged the score back to 2-2 which is where the game ended.
Torva Sharwood, who hails from Port Elizabeth, returned to DSG as the top DSG goal scorer with four goals over the weekend, and was named as the ‘Young Star’ of the Festival. Jenny du Toit, who also originates from Port Elizabeth, won her 100th cap for the DSG 1st team over the weekend.
In the U16 hockey and netball tournament held in Rustenburg, the netball team secured a number of notable wins. However, a few blips along the way meant DSG narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals. In the cross pool playoffs for 5th to 8th positions, DSG lost 11-14 to Wynberg Girls HS before bouncing back with an emphatic 16-6 win over St Stithians to secure 7th place out of the 13 schools in attendance. At the end of the weekend, DSG was given the award for fair play, recognizing the manner and spirit in which the girls played the game.
In the Champions Cup hockey tournament, there were 16 teams competing in two pools of eight. DSG proved too strong for all the opposition in their pool and ended as the top ranked team. However, an unfortunate turn of events saw DSG draw against a highly rated Herschel team (the eventual winners of the event) in the quarter finals, in a game which arguably should have been the final. Herschel however had had a slow start to the event, and had just made it into the quarters. The match was drawn at full time and DSG lost on a penalty shootout. DSG lost their next match again on a shoot out to Parel Vallei before beating Paarl Girls 2-0 in their final match and secured 7th place. A disappointing end after the team had played great hockey in the pool stages but the nature of tournament hockey has taught the girls lessons to take forward into their next event.
The DSG 2nd team played matches in Knysna at the Oakhill hockey festival, and had a tough time as they came up against 1st teams from Oakhill, Wynberg Girls, Southdowns College and Bergvliet HS. The team battled gainfully throughout the weekend and eventually secured a memorable win over Bergvliet in their final match. Kelly Hobson was named as DSG’s most valuable player while the team also won the Sportsmanship Award at the festival.
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
