Saints Water Polo Invitational - Kearsney College champions

Saints Water Polo Invitational. Kearsney’s 1st team water polo won the annual 1st Team Saints Stayers’ Invitational Tournament at St Stithians this past weekend, a prestigious event featuring 20 of the country’s top girls’ and boys’ stayers’ teams.

With Kearsney making only its second appearance in the tournament’s 30-year history, the team entered as underdogs. They went unbeaten in the pool stages, securing the top position in their group after impressive wins over Hilton, Pretoria Boys, SACS and Jeppe. This strong performance allowed Kearsney to advance directly to the quarter finals.

In the quarters match against St Andrews, after a slow start and trailing 1-3 by the end of the first quarter, the team managed to rally and ultimately won 11-9.

The semi-finals saw them face familiar and formidable opponent St John’s College, to whom they had lost in their last two meetings at the Clifton Tournament. Pushed to the limit, Kearsney scored the decisive goal with just seven seconds left, to clinch an 8-7 victory.

In the final, Kearsney faced an unbeaten Bishops. Bishops took an early lead, and Kearsney found themselves down 4-8. But with sheer determination, Kearsney fought back, levelling and then overtaking Bishops late in the fourth quarter, to win 17-14.

Kearsney’s James Pohl, Thomas Aylward and Thomas Francke were selected for the tournament’s All Stars team; and Thomas Aylward was also selected as the defender of the tournament.

Results:

Pool stages: Kearsney beat Hilton 7-5, Kearsney beat Pretoria Boys 6-3, Kearsney beat Jeppe High School 11-8, Kearsney beat SACS 10-8.