2010 – GIRLS’ SOCCER:

 The 2010 girls’ soccer season proved to be a very frustrating season for the players and all the coaches. We had enough players to put together 4 teams this year. The U/14 team, coached by Danielle Deyzel, the U/15 team coached by Kagan Assam, the U/17 team coached by Susan Wells and the U/19 team coached by Carmen Froneman.

 The 1^st girls’ soccer team kicked off the season in fine style as they recorded a convincing victory over Lawson Brown. The match was played at a very high intensity with the VP girls applying all the early pressure. The “floodgates” were opened when Vuvu Ntozini chipped the goal keeper from outside the 18-yard box for the game’s first goal. This goal was followed with another goal from outside the 18-yard box when one of Lawson Brown’s players were penalized for handling the ball. Our centre back, Tessa Wattam (grade 9) stepped up and took an unstoppable shot that kissed the back of the net.

 The second half started in similar fashion with VP applying more pressure. Captain, Nolu Mhlauli played an excellent through-ball for debutant, Anelisa Tuswa (grade 8) who calmly beat the goal keeper to record her first goal for VP. The final goal of the match was setup by Anelisa Tuswa and finished off by Maxine Bonnage (grade 9). The girls created more chances to score, but were happy with the result in the end. Special mention must be made of our 3 central midlfielders who broke down Lawson Brown’s play and were responsible for our team going forward. They are Vuvu Ntozini, Kaylor van Rooyen and captain, Nolu Mhlauli.

 The girls took their good form into the next game Westville, by beating our opponents 5 -0.

 The star of the match was debutant Martina Satanassi who’s first goal was a free kick taken from just to the right of the big box which curved spectacularly over the keepers head. Martina carried on in good form scoring her hat-trick with two more outstanding goals, one from another free kick outside the big box and the last goal was scored from a great pass into the box by captain, Nolu Mhlauli.

 Right wing Maxine Bonnage utilized a first-rate overhead pass from Vuvu Ntozini and proceeded to beat the keeper and add one more goal to the rising score.

 The final goal was scored from a spectacular build up starting from the back when Nasreen Astrie’s great throw-in reached the young right wing Kelly Walker, who played a beautiful cross that found Anelisa Tuswa’s feet. Tuswa took full advantage of the pass and slammed the ball into the back of the net.

The previous weekend had seen our U/14 and U/15 teams play well against their respective opponents when they met St Marks School and Lawson Brown. The U/14 team went down to St Marks, but the U/15 team went on to record a 1 – 0 win over Lawson Brown.

 The following week saw the 1^st and 2^nd teams welcome Chisipite Girls High School from Zimbabwe. This was a historic moment for VP as this was the first International team to play our girls’ teams. The 2^nd team match started in a frantic pace with both teams threatening to score. For our girls, this match presented them with the opportunity to redeem themselves form a loss against Walmer High the previous Friday. The opening goal of the game came from Satesha Maistry who connected with a corner kick taken by Carmen van der Merwe. In the second half, Chisipite piled the pressure as they were looking for the equaliser. The game was settled when Satesha Maistry scored her second goal of the match from close range. VP won 2 – 0.

Following the entertaining match by the seconds, the first team took to the field against Chisi’s first team. The two teams were once again evenly matched. VP looked very threatening when going forward and created early chances to score. Maxine Bonnage opened the scoring following a great build up and through ball from Anelisa Tuswa. Bonnage had another great opportunity to make it two when she was played through by Tandile Namba, but her shot hit the side netting.

 In the second half VP won a corner kick taken by Martina Satanassi, who’s pin-point cross found the head of captain Nolu Mhlauli who made no mistake to give VP a 2 – 0 advantage. Five minutes later, Martina made a solo run from deep in midfield and hit an unstoppable left – footed shot that found the back of the net. Chisi never gave up and kept coming forward. They were rewarded with five minutes to go when the scored a well-deserved consolation goal. VP won 3 – 1.

 Sadly for the girls, this was the most exciting part of their season as their local opponents either post-poned matches indefinately! Earlier in the season, the girls lost out on an opportunity to participate in the Annual VP Soccer Challenge, due to poor response from invited schools as there weren’t enough teams to make a competitive tournament for them. Also, the loss of teams in the PEFA Women’s league, which has been a great source of competition for the girls since 2007, meant that we could not play in this club league. It is hoped that schools in our area will take girls’ soccer more seriously. Drastic steps will have to be taken next year by the league organisers to prevent the same situation from happening again.

 I want to congratulate all the girls that took part in soccer this year, especially for sticking to the sport until the end of the season, despite the difficulties this year. Further, I want to thank the young coaches who led the girls this year for their dedication and commitment. Without Danielle Deyzel, Kagan Assam, Susan Wells and Carmen Froneman, the season would have been a disaster.