The finals of the Howell Pullen tournament were played on Saturday 30 July at St Mary’s. The U16 A and 1st hockey team take part independently, with the U16 A team chasing the Howell Trophy and the 1st team, the Pullen Trophy. The tournament began with a full Saturday fixture of four pool games.

These are the results:

Opposition 1st team result

Hoërskool Monument Won 2-0

Parktown High School for Girls Won 4-1

Roedan School (SA) Won 5-0

Hugenote Hoërskool Won 4-0

St Mary’s 1st team ended 1st in their pool

Opposition U16 A result

Trinity House Won 3-0

Hoërskool Monument Drew 0-0

Fourways High School Won 3-0

Hoërskool Transvalia Won 3-0

St Mary’s U16 A team ended 1st in their pool

On Tuesday 26 July, the quarterfinals took place at St Mary’s. The weather kept us on our toes, with delays happening all afternoon. The U16 A team played Kempton Park Hoërskool winning 2-0 with goals scored by Hannah Henry and Emma Davidson. The 1st team played Hoërskool Transvalia, a game for the books. Hannah Pearce slotted the only goal of the game to make it a 1-0 victory.

Thursday 28 July saw the semi-final matches played at St Mary’s. The U16 A team unfortunately lost 1-0 to Hoërskool Monument after dominating much of the game.

The 1st team had to take on St Andrew’s, they were down 1-0 and while digging deep and fighting till the very end, Francesca Vercellotti managed to covert her opportunities and score two goals for her team. Ending the game in a 2-1 win for the St Mary’s 1st team.

Finals took place on Saturday 30 July at St Mary’s; the atmosphere was great with the pavilion open and teams rearing to go. The St Mary’s U16 A team went 1-0 down to E.G. Jansen, after clawing back to draw the game 1-1 with a great goal from Emma Davidson. Three brave players, Emma Brink, Samantha Hislop and Courtney O’Shaugnessy took the shootout. Both Samantha and Emma scored with Dominique Jacquet (GK) saving EG Jansen’s first two attempts. This resulted in the St Mary’s U16 A team winning their match and taking the bronze medal for the Howell trophy. Hoërskool Monument won the tournament beating St Andrew’s.

The St Mary’s 1st team played well against St Stithians grabbing a 2-0 lead at half time through Roxanne Keeping and Hannah Pearce. The second half brought no goals meaning the St Mary’s 1st team won the Pullen trophy for the fifth consecutive year. St Stithians ended second and St Andrews third.

Congratulations to both the U16 A team and 1st team on a successful tournament.

Roxy Coetzee-Turner

Head of hockey