Durban Girls’ College, in Glenwood, claimed victory in the Durban Central Regional of the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Fast 5’s Challenge at Westville Girls’ High School over the weekend.
In a nail-biting conclusion against the defending champions, Luthayi High School, only one point separated the two teams. College’s goal shooter Amber Thomson netted her team’s glory with the additional goal.
College dominated in the opening quarter, leading 4 goals to 1, but the defending champs were patient, waiting to pounce.
An intercept on the goal line ignited Luthayi, just as College was ringing out three rolling subs.
With a spring in their step, they didn’t let the new College players settle and quickly levelled the score line, with 3 grand shots on target.
Nearing half-time, both College and Luthayi knocked in one more goal each with nothing between the two.
The scoreline was 5-a-piece at the break. The physical game continued after a short team talk, then Luthayi hustled big time, advancing with back-to-back goals.
College looked to break Luthayi’s dominating streak with a successful run-up to the other end, clawing back 1 point.
Twelve schools from the greater Durban area took part in 33 games with the teams divided into two pools. Matches were 16-minutes long with a 2-minute half-time, and a total of 533 goals were scored in 528 minutes of play.
Only three more tournaments remain this year with the tournament heading north to Pionier Hoërskool where teams will participate in the Northern KZN Regional on Saturday September 16.
