{"id":5181,"date":"2026-01-17T13:41:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/?p=5181"},"modified":"2026-01-17T13:41:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:41:41","slug":"south-africa-clinch-series-with-narrow-final-test-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/17\/south-africa-clinch-series-with-narrow-final-test-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa Clinch Series with Narrow Final Test Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Another tight Test encounter closed out the series as South Africa and Canada once again showed a deep understanding of each other\u2019s game. Fine margins defined the contest, but this time South Africa found the decisive moment, claiming a 1\u20130 victory to seal a 3\u20130 series win.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Header Image: SA vs Canada, Pretoria 17 January. 2026. Credit Marcel Sigg<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">South Africa looked most dangerous when Edith Molikoe was pulling the strings in midfield, and she helped drive an early attacking spell that earned the hosts the first penalty corner of the match. The opportunity went begging as execution let them down. Ntsopa Mokoena was lively early, finding good pockets of space, while another South African penalty corner was well saved by Marcia <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Laplante<\/span><span class=\"s4\">. Mokoena later forced a save with a sharp reverse-stick effort as South Africa edged the opening exchanges. 0\u20130 at the end of the first quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Canada enjoyed a period of possession early in the second quarter but, as had been the theme of the series, struggled to turn control into clear chances. Their best opportunity of the match was snuffed out brilliantly by Molikoe, before Mokoena produced a <\/span><span class=\"s4\">breathtaking<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> run that lifted the crowd and created a chance she was unable to convert. A South African deflection then drifted just wide, while Canada earned a penalty corner of their own, only to find the foot of a teammate. 0\u20130 at half time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">The breakthrough finally came in the third quarter. Mokoena slipped a pass through to Laiken Brisset, who did well under pressure to square the ball across the circle. Cerian Fourie was perfectly placed to collect and fire through the goalkeeper into the bottom-left corner, giving South Africa a deserved 1\u20130 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">South Africa thought they had doubled their advantage shortly afterwards, but the goal was correctly ruled out for dangerous play. Canada pushed hard in the closing stages, stretching the South African defence, but the hosts held firm to close out the match and the series.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><strong><span class=\"s4\">Final Test Result<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">South Africa 1\u20130 Canada<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Test Series Results<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"s7\"><span class=\"s6\">\u2022 <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Test 1: South Africa 1\u20130 Canada<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"s7\"><span class=\"s6\">\u2022 <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Test 2: Draw<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"s7\"><span class=\"s6\">\u2022 <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Test 3: South Africa 2\u20130 Canada<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"s7\"><span class=\"s6\">\u2022 <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Test 4: Draw<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"s7\"><span class=\"s6\">\u2022 <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Test 5: South Africa 1\u20130 Canada<\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"s8\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another tight Test encounter closed out the series as South Africa and Canada once again showed a deep understanding of each other\u2019s game. Fine margins <a href=\"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/17\/south-africa-clinch-series-with-narrow-final-test-victory\/\" class=\"btn btn-link continue-link\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5181","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=5181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5183,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5181\/revisions\/5183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}