Pearson power to title
PEARSON took the overall honours when they won the boys' title and were semifinalists in the girls' section in the National Schools Co-Ed waterpolo tournament at Pearson at the weekend.
This is the first time the PE school have received this accolade and came in a three-day tournament where 17 schools from around the country were represented by 32 teams.
With Matthew Petzer and goalkeeper Antonio Votano standing out for Pearson, they dominated the boys' section, defeating Thomas Moore (Durban) 9-3 in the semifinals, and then outclassing St Peter's (Johannesburg) 8-3 in the final.
In the other semifinal, St Peter's beat Crawford Lonehill (Johannesburg) 5-3.
The Pearson girls' team also excelled to reach the semifinals, but there they came unstuck against Crawford, losing 5-1.
East London school, Stirling, proved to be the team to beat. They had a comfortable 9-1 win over Cape Town's Westerford in the semis, and were too strong for Crawford in the final, winning 7-1.
St Andrew's tour
THE St Andrew's first team received some good exposure in the annual SA College School (SACS) water polo tournament in Cape Town, featuring 20 of the top schools sides in the country.
On the day before the tournament, the St Andrew's lads braved the Cape Town weather to play warm-up games against Glenwood and Reddam in pouring rain, hail and sleet, winning both.
Faced with a difficult draw, they got off to an excellent start, beating the winners of the KES tournament earlier this year, St Stithians, 4-3. However, they were well beaten in their second game by SACS, who went on to win their own tournament for the first time in 24 years.
St Andrew's bounced back with a good 4-2 win against a strong Paul Roos side, and finished the day with a 7-3 win over Glenwood.
On the final day, some exciting waterpolo was played and St Andrew's won all four of their pool games – against Northwood 5-3, Rondebosch 5-2, KES 3-1 and Grey College 11-2. They also beat Westville 3-0 to ensure they qualified for the quarterfinals after ending in second place in their pool.
The quarterfinal against Bishops started well and St Andrew's took an early lead. However, they then came under intense pressure and their defence eventually gave in for Bishops to run out deserved 6-1 winners.
However, the eight wins in 10 games against some of the top sides in the country, cemented their place among the top 10 water polo sides in the country.
At the end of the tournament, Matt Andrews was selected as part of the prestigious Tournament Side, an achievement that recognises him unofficially as one of the top players in the country.
