{"id":5178,"date":"2026-01-16T21:39:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T19:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/?p=5178"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:39:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T19:39:51","slug":"fourth-test-ends-in-high-intensity-stalemate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/fourth-test-ends-in-high-intensity-stalemate\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth Test Ends in High-Intensity Stalemate"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was another frenetic encounter in the fourth Test of the series, ending goalless once again, but not without plenty of intensity and chances at both ends. The match also marked a <\/span>debut for <\/span>Nuriyah<\/span> Bell<\/span>, who stepped into the international arena with confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa earned an early penalty corner, with the first-wave running causing real problems, but Canada absorbed the pressure well. The visitors looked dangerous on the counter, although the final connection was often missing. <\/span>Laiken Brisset<\/span> went close with a reverse-stick effort that drifted wide, while another SA penalty corner was well dealt with by <\/span>Marcia <\/span>Laplante<\/span>, who produced a sharp low save. A promising counter-attack saw <\/span>Ntsopa Mokoena<\/span> fire just wide as the first quarter ended scoreless.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mokoena had the first chance of the second quarter, again going wide on the reverse. South Africa earned another penalty corner after a poor Canadian tackle, opting for a variation back to the injector, but the deflection missed the target. The match settled into a midfield battle, with limited clear opportunities. Canada earned a penalty corner of their own, but a poor injection prevented a shot on goal. Despite a good spell of possession from Canada late in the half, it was South Africa who had the final look via a penalty corner, only for dangerous play to halt the chance. <\/span>0\u20130 at half time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada started the third quarter with an early circle entry but couldn\u2019t create a meaningful chance. Another Canadian penalty corner followed, with a big variation sailing over the top. South Africa countered sharply but the final pass let them down. A dangerous back-stick attempt from <\/span>Tamlyn<\/span> Kock<\/span> followed soon after. The moment of the quarter came when a brilliant diagonal from <\/span>Edith Molikoe<\/span> found <\/span>Steph Botha<\/span>, only for <\/span>Laplante<\/span> to produce a sensational save. Still no breakthrough at the end of the third.<\/span><\/p>\n

The final quarter continued at a breathless pace. Excellent work from <\/span>Thati<\/span> Zulu<\/span> and Mokoena opened space for South Africa, but strong Canadian defence shut the door. A ball flashed across the circle with no touch, before Canada had a big chance that was well defended by the South Africans. Chances came and went at both ends, including Molikoe firing wide and another dangerous SA diagonal going begging. A late South African penalty corner with a minute on the clock was comfortably saved, sealing a <\/span>0\u20130 draw at full time<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\ud83d\uddd3<\/span> Final Test:<\/span> Saturday at <\/span>10:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was another frenetic encounter in the fourth Test of the series, ending goalless once again, but not without plenty of intensity and chances at Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[213],"class_list":["post-5178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","tag-sa-hockey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5180,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5178\/revisions\/5180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}