Author: cschiwanza

Reabitswe Phume, Ruby Kraus, and Georgia Pollock were among the 18 players selected by SASHOC to represent the SA Schools u18A girls’ side, which was announced in Bloemfontein on Friday during the closing ceremony of the SASHOC National Week.

“We were looking at more than just a player’s ability in a certain position,” Rob Pullen, the convenor of selectors, said.

“The week helped us to evaluate each player’s skill and temperament. It is important that we look at all these things because there is cross-pollination between the u18 and u21 sides.”

Pullen and the rest of the selection panel, including the side’s head coach Nolwazi Nkabinde, spent the six-day event not only analysing the players’ on-field abilities and temperament but how they relate towards other players off of the field.

Phume, who led Southern Gauteng A to the title, is one of the more experienced players in the side. The St Stithians’ learner has already been a part of the SA Women’s Olympic squad.

She was one of the midfielders selected, along with the KZN Coastal duo of Georgia Pollock and Emily Macquet.

One of the things we were looking for was whether a player is comfortable on the ball and their work rate. We wanted players with a high work rate on and off the ball,” Pullen explained.

Southern Free State A‘s Bianca Rees Gibbs was the joint leading goal-scorer of the National Week, with six goals, despite her side missing out on a semi-final place. The Eunice learner didn’t just excel at the National Week. She has in great form throughout the season and won the Player of the Tournament award at the St Mary’s Waverley Festival, where she was also the leading goal scorer.

The 17-year-old will join, among others, Ruby Kraus and Tara Pakendorf, up front.

Southern Gauteng A not only scored the most goals at the National Week, but they also conceded the least. Their defence was breached only twice in seven games and part of the reason for that was the quality of their defenders, one of whom was Ifeoma Ndubeze. Her partners in defence will include Caprice Bengston and Lize Classens.

Goalkeeper Luané Janssen played some of the best hockey of her young career as she helped her side, Northern Gauteng A, reach the final of the National Week. The teenager pulled off incredible saves and performed heroics in their semifinal tie against KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A. That clash went to a penalty shootout and then sudden death. Janssen is one of the two goal-minders selected for the side.

Four members of the squad are from Durban Girls’ College: Caprice Bengtson, Ruby Kraus, Emily Macquet and Tara Pakendorf.

The team will undergo a three-day training and orientation camp in Bloemfontein from 22-25 June.

SA Schools U18 team

Jehan Abrahams (Western Province A), Alulutho Adams (Eastern Province A), Caprice Bengtson (KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A), Lize Classens (Northern Gauteng A), Luané Janssen (Northern Gauteng A), Ruby Kraus (KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A), Emily Macquet (KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A), Logan Marthinus (Boland A), Thabelani Metu (Border A), Thatohatsi Mokhele (Northern Gauteng A), Ifeoma Ndubueze (Southern Gauteng A), Tara Pakendorf (KwaZulu-Natal Coastal), Reabetswe Phume (Southern Gauteng A), Tanya Pieterse (Boland A), Georgia Pollock (KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A), Hannah Quinton (Southern Gauteng A), Bianca Rees-Gibbs (Southern Free State A), Amy Smith (Southern Gauteng A).

Reabitswe Phume and Ilanie Dutton starred in the u18 SASHOC National Week final to help Southern Gauteng A lift the Sandra Jordaan Trophy in Bloemfontein on Friday.

Southerns edged out Northern Gauteng A 4-3 in a tense penalty shootout, which was decided by sudden death strokes. The sides were level at 2-2 after regulation time.

With the win, Southerns ended a 14-year wait for the title. When last they lifted the coveted trophy, their captain, Phume, was only three years old.

Relive the action on SuperSport Schools

Never in the history of the tournament has a province been as dominant as Gauteng was in Bloemfontein. Three teams from the province made the semifinals: It was, however, Natasha le Roux‘s Southerns A team, which set the pace throughout the event.

Prior to the final, Southerns had scored 18 goals without conceding one. They had also committed so few fouls and mistakes that opposition teams hadn’t tallied even a handful of penalty corners against them.

While proud of her side’s achievements in the lead-up to the title-decider, Le Roux hoped that her team would not turn into one of those outfits that sweeps all of their games only to lose in the final. Fortunately, for, her, they were not.

Two of the main reasons for Southerns’ success were the team’s talent and discipline.

“We have been rock-solid as a unit. So, we have been a good defence and a solid unit. The defence and midfield were strong,” Le Roux said after the final.

“Every player is going to make a mistake at some stage, and when one slipped there was always someone else to cover. They were always there for each other, cleaning up after the next player. We just had to back our buddy, make her look good because she also makes us look good.”

That mindset did not happen overnight. It was something that the players worked on game by game throughout the SASHOC National Week. They had to learn how to play with and for each other. Despite recording positive results right off the bat, Southerns had some teething problems in their first match.

“One word our coach kept repeating was click, that we needed to click, so we just wanted to click. I think that’s what we did in the final,” captain Reabitswe Phume said. “The teamwork has been phenomenal and, if you look at our scorers, we have a variety, which shows a team working together and the talent we have in the side.”

In the final, Southerns opened their account through Emily Weaver seven minutes into the first chukka. They headed into the contest with the knowledge that they had beaten Northerns earlier in the tournament, winning 3-0 in their second match on the opening day.

However, they were not about to let that victory undermine their title aspirations. They had seen Northerns upset a strong KwaZulu-Natal Coastal team in the semi-finals.

After scoring the contest’s first goal, Southerns fought for every possession and drove forward looking for a second goal. They got it through Amber Fairon, their leading goal scorer and the tournament’s third-most prolific striker, in the 44^th minute.

Their two-goal cushion didn’t last long, however, as Northerns struck back immediately after the final chukka had started.

In the last five minutes, Southerns was reduced to 10 players, and their opponents removed their goalkeeper for an extra forward as they went in search of an equaliser. Coach Sinoxolo Mbekeni’s charges piled on the pressure. They were rewarded with a penalty corner in the final minute, and they converted it.

With the teams level at 2-2, the contest went to a penalty shootout.

“I think if you want to make it difficult for yourself, that is the way to do it. You go a man down. Rightfully so, Northerns pulled their goalie and then we started running in the midfield, instead of running in the corners or just getting it away from the box,” a relieved Le Roux said after the shootout.

“Kudos to Northerns for a very good final and, secondly, for using their opportunities. I thought we had it with a minute left and, all of a sudden, we had to fight for it in sudden death.”

Northerns scored from the first stroke. However, Ilanie Dutton saved the next two to keep her side in the contest.

Southerns scored their first two, missed the next two, and converted the last one, to send the shootout to sudden death. Phume, who had converted her first stroke, made no mistake the second time around, and Dutton kept Danielle McCann’s effort out to secure her side the win.

“You have to stay focused throughout the whole game and throughout the whole tournament. You must be in the game all the time, keeping your head in the game, and keeping your eye on the ball every time. You also need to keep your composure,” Dutton said.

“For that, I tell myself just to enjoy it. It’s a very stressful situation and a lot of pressure, but you have to believe in yourself and your teammates to score, as well. Back yourself and go all out,” she reckoned.

“I am at a loss for words. I am so proud of these girls. I am walking away a happy captain,” an elated Phume said.

Her emotions were shared by coach Natasha le Roux. Together, they had helped to bring a 14-year wait to an end.

Southern Gauteng A edged out their counterparts Southern Gauteng B 2-0 in a thrilling semifinal on Thursday in Bloemfontein to book their ticket to the final of the SASHOC National Week.

They will duel with Northern Gauteng A for the Sandra Jordaan Trophy at 09:55 on Friday morning.

Incredibly, given their rich history, Southerns last won the title in 2010, but they have high hopes of bringing an end to that title drought.

Catch the final live on SuperSport Schools

Many of the players in the Southern Gauteng A team were part of the u16 side that reached the final of that age group’s inter-provincial tournament last year. They hope to put the experience they gained from that campaign to good use and to go one better than in 2023.

While the scoreline gives an illusion of a comfortable win, given that Southern Gauteng A had a two-goal cushion when the match ended, the reality on the University of the Free State Astro was different.

Lance Louw‘s Southern Gauteng B fought fire with fire and enjoyed as much possession as their opponents. The contest was so close that Natasha Le Roux’s side scored their first goal with only four minutes of the third chukka remaining.

“If you play against Wits, on any given day it’s going to be a tough day. There were moments in that match where either team could have taken it,” the Southern Gauteng A coach reckoned.

While spectators and other teams might have looked at Southern Gauteng B as a lesser side due to its B team status, Le Roux and her charges refused to be complacent. “We haven’t called them a B side the entire week, and our entire team talk was around the fact that we cannot underestimate them, even if they carry the B side label. If they were a true B side, they wouldn’t have played the way they played today,” she said.

Not only did Southern Gauteng B match their opposition’s work rate, but they also found ways to work around the plans the Reabitswe Phume-captained side had.

“We know every player in their team, and we sort of had our expectations on what they were going to do, and they hit us with something very unexpected. It was a tough game but very enjoyable,” Amber Fairon beamed after the semifinal clash.

Southern Gauteng A’s fortunes turned in the third chukka, thanks to a halftime team talk that brought about a change in their approach. Le Roux, firstly, asked her charges not to be outworked by their opponents. Their work rate off the ball was not as high as she would have wanted it to be. They were working hard, but they ran the risk of being outworked by Southern Gauteng B.

“We also changed the press a little bit, which created a bit more time for our strikers to set up a shape that we wanted. Luckily, it worked out and we got our first goal,” Le Roux said.

Transformed, Southern Gauteng A made a breakthrough via Hannah Quinton, who opened the scoring for her side in the 41^st minute. Although Le Roux’s side does not boast a high penalty corner conversion rate in the tournament, when they have been successful, Quinton has been one of the players to find success at the set piece. Her goal against Wits was her third of the tournament.

Instead of being deflated by conceding, Southern Gauteng B appeared reinvigorated as they hunted for an equaliser. To put the contest to bed, Southerns’ A needed a second goal. It took them 19 minutes to create it.

Fairon is Southern Gauteng A’s leading goal scorer, with four to her name. She scored her first goal of the tournament in the first match her team played against Boland; a last-minute strike helped her side register a convincing 3-0 win over Northern Gauteng A. She followed that up with two goals in their fourth match, a 4-0 win over Western Province B. However, she counted her final-minute strike against Southern Gauteng B as her best of the tournament.

“I love scoring, but I haven’t been scoring as much as I would love to this whole tournament, so getting that second goal was a weight off my chest,” she admitted. “It was all the more important for me that the goal came in the semifinal against a tough side. I love that goal!”

While Southern Gauteng A convincingly won their game against Northerns on the first day of the tournament, Sunday, they’re highly motivated to do the double over their neighbours.

Coach, captain, and the rest of the squad all acknowledge that beating a team twice in a single tournament is not easy. They will be pulling out all the stops in the final to do that and to take possession of the trophy.

Northern Gauteng A became the first team to book a spot to compete for the Sandra Jordaan Trophy at the u18 SASHOC National Week in Bloemfontein on Thursday.

In a tightly contested semi-final, they deadlocked 1-1 with KwaZulu-Natal Coastal, before edging out their opponents 3-2 in the subsequent penalty shootout.

Northerns will face Southern Gauteng A for the title. It is the first time in many years that sides from the same province will duel for the trophy.

Catch the final live on SuperSport Schools

Northerns were one of the less fancied outfits in Pool A, where the defending champions, Southern Free State A, and Southern Gauteng A were expected to be the dominant sides.

However, Sinoxolo Mbekeni’s charges proved themselves to the dark horses of the tournament. Now, heading into Friday, they have a 50-50 chance of winning the title. They also have an opportunity to avenge a 0-3 defeat they suffered at the hands of Southern Gauteng A in their second pool match.

Up against KZN Coastal in the semi-finals, they were facing one of the more clinical outfits in the circle. After going behind very early in the match, the KZN girls desperately hunted for an equaliser. They enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and dictated the tempo in their pursuit of a goal, but they couldn’t land a final punch. They won several penalty corners and all but one was closed down by Northerns.

“Our brief was to let them play, but let them play in front of us,” Mbekeni shared. “That’s why we went that deep and tried to compress the space. They are a good side. They have scored a lot of goals and we wanted to eliminate the 1-v-1 battles.”

Northerns’ leading goal scorer, Arista van Zyl, had her side on the front foot with a fourth-minute strike. The Garsfontein learner chased down a Coastal defender, forced an error and capitalised on the opportunity.

Coastal reacted well to the setback, launching foray after foray into the Northerns’ half. Jacinta Wedderburn’s side, however, had to chase the game for 34 of the 60 minutes of the contest.

“They have a strong team and keep the ball so well. We tried to not give away any penalty corners in defence because we know how good they are,” Northerns’ Daniella McCann said after the match. “We knew, from the beginning, there was going to be pressure. We knew they were going to come hard at us.”

McCann, who spoke highly of Northerns’ team culture, said the side’s players became cheerleaders for one another as they built of wall of defence to repel the KZN team’s attacks. McCann, a forward, found herself taking on a greater defensive role than usual, working hard to make life tough for the Coastal defenders as they tried to exit.

The Northerns’ cohort has been a team that few have given a second glance. Luane Janssen, their goalkeeper, said most of the girls have played together since they were Grade 6 learners, but they had never finished higher than eighth at a provincial tournament.

“We have never won anything and so our main goal was to make the semifinals,” the Waterkloof learner admitted. “That would have been a big win for us.”

However, after winning in the semis, they are now daring to dream bigger, and they hope to realise their dream of being crowned the champions by adhering to good defence principles.

“Throughout the week there have been quarters where we were under a lot of pressure, and I think we have learned from that. The girls are not robots. They are not going to automatically be calm under pressure, but I think they have become better at handling pressure with each passing game,” Mbekeni said.

After withstanding the pressure exerted by KZN Coastal during regulation time, Northerns backed themselves to handle the pressure of the shootout. When the KZN team missed its first shootout opportunity, Northerns’ belief swelled. They converted their first chance, but went on to miss their next three, while Coastal scored two of their next three.

Janssen needed to prevent Coastal’s Caprice Bengston from converting her eight-second penalty to keep Northerns’ dreams alive. She stopped her. Then, Andrea Groenewald needed to beat Ella Carstens to keep the Gauteng side’s quest alive. She also succeeded, and that sent the teams to sudden death. That is when Daniella McCann stepped up.

“You don’t go into a shootout alone; you go with the rest of the team behind you. We also have one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament, so I think that also helps us to stay calm under pressure,” McCann said. She converted her stroke.

After making three good saves, Janssen was required to make one more critical stop. Facing her was the talented Emily Macquet.

“A shootout is always stressful for everyone,” Janssen said. “It is stressful for me, the ‘keeper, and I also know that it is stressful for the striker against me. But knowing that my team backs me is also great for my confidence and it helps me to back my training. I train hard for moments like this,” she shared after stopping Macquet.

Northerns will go into the final as the underdogs, but that hasn’t held them back yet, and they have high hopes of upstaging Southern Gauteng A in the Jukskei Derby on Friday.

Northern Gauteng A was the first team to book a spot to compete for the Sandra Jordaan trophy in the SASHOC U18 National Week finals in Bloemfontein. They defeated KwaZulu Natal Coastals 3 – 2 in a penalty shootout after a 1 – 1 deadlock in regulation time.

Northerns will face Southern Gauteng A in the final. It is the first time in a long time that sides from the same province will duel for the trophy.

The highveld side was one of the lesser fancied outfits in Pool A, where defending champions Southern Free State A and Southern Gauteng A were expected to be the dominant sides. Sinoxolo Mbekeni’s charges have proven to be the dark horses of the tournament and have a 50-50 shot at winning the title. They also have an opportunity to avenge the 3 – 0 defeat they suffered at the hands of Southern Gauteng A in their second pool match.

Coming into the semifinal tie, Coastals was one of the most clinical outfits in the D, and desperately hunted for an opportunity at goal from the fifth minute onwards. They enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, dictating the tempo in their pursuit of an equalizer, but just couldn’t deliver the final punch. They won several penalty corners, all of which but one were closed down by Northerns.

“Our brief was to let them play but let them play in front of us. That’s why we went that deep and tried to compress the space. They are a good side; they have scored a lot of goals and we wanted to eliminate the 1-v-1 battles,” Mbekeni shared.

Northerns’ leading goal scorer, Arista van Zyl, had put the Gauteng side on the front foot with a fourth-minute strike. The Garsfontein learner chased down a Coastals defender, forced an error and capitalized on the opportunity. After the goal, Coastals reacted by launching foray after foray into the Northerns half. Jacinta Wedderburn’s side chased the game for 34 of the 60 minutes of the contest.

“They have a strong team and keep the ball so well. We tried to not give any penalty corners in defence because we know how good they are. We knew from the beginning there was going to be pressure, we knew they were going to come hard at us,” Daniella McCann explained after the match.

McCann, who speaks highly of the team culture they play in, shared that the Northerns players became each other’s cheerleaders as they raised a wall of defence to repel the KZN team’s attacks. The forward found herself doing defensive work more than she did in making life tough for the Coastals defence.

This Northerns cohort has always been the side that no one took a second look at. According to Luane Janssen, their goal-minder, the girls have played together since they were Grade 6 learners but never achieved a position higher than eighth at provincial tournaments.

“We have never won anything and so our main goal was to make the semifinals. That would have been a big win for us,” the Waterkloof learner explained.

However, after making the semifinals, they dared to dream bigger and realized that dream by adhering to good defence principles. “Throughout the week there have been quarters where we were under a lot of pressure, and I think we have learned from it. The girls are not robots, they are not going to automatically be calm under pressure, but I think they have become better at handling pressure with each passing game,” Mbekeni said.

After withstanding the pressure from the game, Northerns backed themselves to handle the pressure of the shootout with ease. When Coastals took the first penalty stroke and missed, the Gauteng side’s belief swelled. They converted their first stroke but went on to miss the next three, while Coastals scored two of the next three.

Janssen needed to prevent Coastals’ Caprice Bengston from converting her penalty stroke to keep Northerns’ dreams alive. She did so. Andrea Groenewald needed to beat Ella Casterns to keep the Gauteng side alive. She also did so and sent the teams to sudden death. That is when Daniella McCann stepped up to take the stroke.

“You don’t go into a shootout alone; you go with the rest of the team behind you. We also have one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament, so I think that also helps us to stay calm under pressure,” McCann, who converted her stroke, explained.

After making three good saves, Janssen was required to make what later proved to be the most important save of the match. She was facing the talented Emily Macquet. “A shootout is always stressful for everyone. It is stressful for me, the keeper, and I also know that it is stressful for the striker against me. But knowing that my team backs me is also great for my confidence and it helps me to back my training. I train hard for moments like this,” she shared.

Northerns will now carry their underdog tag into the final, where they hope to upstage Southern Gauteng A in a repeat of the Jukskei Derby from earlier in the week.

Northern Gauteng A pulled out all the stops as they fought their way to a second-place finish in Pool B at the SASHOC National Week in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

Northern Gauteng A’s 2-1 win over Western Province B knocked the defending champions, Southern Free State A, out of the running for the title.

Catch all the action live on SuperSport Schools

In Pool A, the leaders, KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A, edged out their neighbours, KwaZulu-Natal Inland 2-1 in a hotly contested derby to secure local bragging rights.

The Northern Gauteng A versus Western Province B match was fiercely contested until the last second. Sinoxolo Mbekeni’s Northerns’ side found themselves clinging on for dear life as Western Province B threw everything they had at them in the dying minutes of the tie.

“I must have aged 40 years in those final moments,” Mbekeni chuckled afterwards.

The highveld side was one of the lower-ranked teams in the group, but they showed themselves to be one of the tournament’s dark horses when they bagged victories in their first two matches.

“The underdog tag is not something we fought against coming into the IPTs. We embraced it. But we also had our plans,” the coach said.

“We knew we had to pull off at least one big performance against the three other top sides in the pool. We did that on day one and two [and] registered two wins from those three games.”

Ahead of the SASHOC National Week, Northerns had set themselves a goal of making it to the semi-finals. Now, having achieved that, they’ve had to reset their goals.

“We are very excited to make it to the semis. Now we are looking to see how far we can go,” captain Gardi van Niekerk said.

With few tabbing Northerns as a potential title contender, they have played with freedom, unencumbered by external expectations.

In team talks, Mbekeni constantly reminded his charges that while they had goals and aspirations as a team, one of the most important things to keep in mind was that hockey was a fun sport and meant to be enjoyed. They ensured they had fun and with that came positive results.

“I think a key part of our plan is to play unexpected hockey, keeping to our brand of hockey, not anything that anyone else is doing,” Van Niekerk said about her side’s approach.

Mbekeni is still not satisfied with his charges’ game management. Had they managed their contest against Western Province B better, they wouldn’t have had to hold their hearts in their mouths as they fought off wave after wave of attacks.

KZN Coastal, meanwhile, triumphed over KZN Inland in an edge-of-your-seat derby clash.

Coach Morne Odendaal‘s Inland side entered the contest knowing that they needed a victory to make it through to the semi-finals. They took the fight to their coastal neighbours from the start. Inland created the first attempt on goal and they kept at it.

Despite having punched their semi-finals’ ticket, Coastal was in no mood to hand out freebies and they were focused on earning the bragging rights. So, they gave as much as they received. Halfway through the first quarter, they had wrestled control of the game from their rivals.

“As much as we were looking for a result, we were also looking at the next stage, the semis. We had what we wanted to achieve in mind, and I think the girls implemented everything we discussed in our team talk; keeping calm, not chasing the ball, managing our legs,” coach Jacinta Wedderburn shared after the match.

Vice-captain Emily Macquet was on the same page as Wedderburn, stating: “We put up a good fight out there. It’s always a good game to go up against Inland. They are our friends, and they are competitive against us.

“We kept our composure and kept the ball because we didn’t want to chase and tire ourselves. I think we kept the ball nicely and converted our chances when we created them.”

KZN Coastal and Northern Gauteng A will meet in the semifinals on Thursday afternoon. It should be a humdinger of a contest.

Southern Gauteng A and Southern Gauteng B will face off later in the other semi-final after the Southerns’ B team edged out Boland A on goal difference to book their final four spot.

Results

Boland A 1-0 Eastern Province A
Southern Gauteng B 2-0 Northern Free State
Southern Free State A 0-2 Southern Gauteng A
Western Province A 3-0 Border A
Northern Gauteng A 2-1 Western Province B
KZN Inland A 1-2 KZN Coastal A
Eastern Province A 0-1 Southern Gauteng B

Southern Gauteng A recorded a fourth successive win, with a 4-0 defeat of Western Province B on Tuesday and are already sure of a semifinal berth at the SASHOC National Week in Bloemfontein.

Defending champions, Southern Free State A, meanwhile, bounced back from a loss to Northern Gauteng A and claimed a 3-1 win over Western Province A to remain in contention for a final four place.

Natasha Le Roux’s Southern Gauteng side, which is yet to concede a goal, did not let their standards slide despite coach Madenieya Kazie‘s side being a B team.

“Day three is always a tough one if you have played four games, and this was our fourth game,” Le Roux said. “However, I think we went into it in high spirits, which is always good.

“Western Province B has had quite a few good results this week, so we didn’t underestimate them. The girls went in hard, and we scored early, which set the pace, and from there on things went better.”

Reabitswe Phume, the Southern Gauteng A captain, echoed her coach’s sentiments: “Our mentality is to respect every side that is here, and because Western Province was a B side that doesn’t mean they are a lesser team. They did hold us, which was quite good.’

The highveld side has been one of the most disciplined outfits so far in the tournament, having picked up only four green cards, three of which came in their Jukskei derby clash with Northern Gauteng A on day one.

“The big thing for us is going into each game with humility, giving respect to the opposition and the umpires,” Hannah Quinton, the Southerns’ vice-captain, said.

Le Roux’s side is top of Pool A, but the coach is taking nothing for granted: “I think if you count your chickens before they hatch, you might lose a chicken along the way. Tomorrow, we have Southern Free State. We will go back to the board, go back to basics,” she shared.

Despite having scored the joint-most goals in the tournament so far, Southern Gauteng A does not have a player among the top three individual highest scorers. The leading goal-scorer, Southern Free State’s Bianca Rees-Gibbs, has struck the backboard six times, followed by Arista van Zyl, of Northerns, on five and then Ruby Kraus, of KZN Coastal, on four.

The highveld side has three players with three goals to their names: Amber Fairon, Hannah Smyth and Emily Weaver. That trio is followed by the captain and vice-captain, Phume and Quinton, who have scored two goals each.

More than anything, this speaks to the side’s ability to find the back of the net without relying on a single player. They are not planning to change that when they lock horns with the defending champions.

“Tomorrow is just another game for us. We go in with the same mentality: discipline and focus. We will have a team talk, analyse the game, and hopefully execute the gameplan.

“I like the bond we have created within the team, so we are going in with a positive mindset,” Phume explained.

Southern Gauteng A’s appointment with Southern Free State takes place at 11:20. Sulette Kotzee’s side played themselves back into contention for a semifinal spot with a 3-1 win over Western Province A, which enabled them to leapfrog Northern Gauteng A, who were held to a 2-2 draw by Border A.

Southern Free State A headed into Tuesday’s clash following a bruising loss by three goals to Northern Gauteng A. “Yes, it was a bad loss. But I think it is good to have one loss in the tournament because it switches you on,” Mia Schimper, the vice-captain of the home team, said. “Losses help you to learn from your mistakes and you don’t relax. It also got us mentally strong,” she added.

After their defeat, the Free State players did not hang their heads in despair. They produced enough good moments in their loss from which they could draw strength. Anriette Otto and company make a habit of celebrating moments, no matter how small they may appear.

“The girls knew it was one of our two quarter finals. We have the other one tomorrow,” the Southern Free State coach Sulette Kotzee, said.

“They knew we needed the points because a loss would have knocked us out of the tournament. We played more connecting hockey. We weren’t just bound to one channel, and we created 2-v-1 situations, and we took our chances.

“If the girls play like they played today, we will have a good match tomorrow,” she reckoned.

While Southern Free State A performed better as a unit compared to the first two days, it was Schimper and Anne Prinsloo who buoyed them with strong showings in defence and in the middle of the park.

“Today, I stepped up really well and played better than the other days. I carried the ball into the circle and down the baseline and made good passes. I think we were also good as a team, and we got outcomes,” Prinsloo said.

The Southern Free State versus Southern Gauteng A showdown will be one of the bigger games on the last day of pool clashes, pitting the Pool A leaders against the side in the second place after Wednesday’s action.

Third place belongs to Northern Gauteng A, who are two points behind the Free Staters and who face Western Province B on Thursday.

Results

Southern Gauteng A 4-0 Western Province B
Southern Free State A 3-1 Western Province A
Border A 2-2 Northern Gauteng A
KZN Coastals A 1-0 Southern Gauteng B
Boland A 2-1 KZN Inland A
Western Province B 0-1 Western Province A
Eastern Province A 1-0 Northern Free State

Ruby Kraus and Arista van Zyl were in top form as they led their sides, KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A and Northern Gauteng A, to victories on Monday, the second day of the SASHOC National Week in Bloemfontein.

The tournament began on Sunday, 16 June, and ends with the last of playoff matches on Friday, 21 June.

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Kraus scored three goals across two matches to help KZN Coastal register back-to-back victories and maintain their spot at the summit of Pool B.

The KZN side is one of only two unbeaten teams in the tournament. The other is Natasha le Roux’s Southern Gauteng A. They lead Pool A with three wins from three outings.

Coastals were a better version of themselves when they walked onto the University of Free State’s Field 1 in the first match of the second day. They had shaken off their first day’s nerves and looked comfortable on the ball. Not even the biting Bloemfontein cold could stop them.

“We did a bit of video analysis last night and noted that we let EP into the game yesterday. We spoke about being better in our defensive shape. We felt that let us down against EP,” Jacinta Wedderburn, the Coastal coach, said. “Today they were tight, holding good lines, and turning over the ball convincingly.”

Despite winning their first match 3-1, Wedderburn felt her side had conceded a soft goal that could have been avoided. The coach’s impression of the game was shared by her captain, Tara Pakendorf, who is having an excellent tournament so far.

“I feel like our team played well together,” Pakendorf said. “We had amazing connections throughout the whole game. We had composure on the ball. Everyone was communicating and unselfish and encouraging towards one another.”

Kraus scored a brace as Coastals walloped Northern Free State 8-1, winning by the widest margin of the tournament so far.

“We started hard and finished hard. We scored our last goal in the last second and that showed that we didn’t stop pushing. It took us a bit of time to acclimatise to the different environment and altitude, but today we found our rhythm and I hope we can keep building from there,” Kraus said.

The Durban Girls’ College learner recorded her third goal of the day when KZN Coastal squeezed past Boland A 1-0 in the late afternoon.

Northern Gauteng A shrugged off a loss to their arch-rivals Southern Gauteng A on day one to record a 4-1 win over Southern Free State A.

When they walked out to face the defending champions, the Mmamorena Manthata-captained side had clarity of purpose.

“I think, as a team, we kept the vibe up; nobody dropped their head because of yesterday’s result. Everyone kept their chin up. At the end of the day, one bad game doesn’t mean a bad tournament,” Arista van Zyl said after the tie.

Sinoxolo Mbekeni, the Northern Gauteng A coach, felt that his side’s loss to Southern Gauteng A in the Jukskei derby had more to do with mindset than skill.

“Yesterday, we were uptight before our match against Southern Gauteng A. We were going up against a side with players they meet at school level, and instead of focusing on our gameplan and skills, we became reactionary,” he said.

Van Zyl opened the scoring for Northern Gauteng A with a field goal in the 12th minute. It didn’t take long before she struck again to place Southern Free State A firmly on the back foot.

“I liked the second goal better because we started from the back and had a great build-up. It was completely a team goal,” she shared.

Van Zyl is currently the only player with a hat-trick to her name and is the tournament’s leading scorer with five goals. Hot on her heels are Coastals’ Ruby Kraus and Bianca Rees-Gibbs, of Southern Free State, with four goals each. They are followed by Gemma Purcell (Western Province B), Ella Shuttleworth (KZN Inland A) and Hannah Smyth (Southern Gauteng A) with three goals each.

The prolific Northerns’ striker summed up her approach, saying: “When we started playing, my coach told me, ‘If you buy a lotto ticket, you can win. So, if you keep taking the shots, you can score goals. If you don’t take the shots, you don’t score.’”

Their victory against Southern Free State A lifted Northerns into second place in Pool A, tied with Southern Free State on points but with a better goal difference. Southern Gauteng A is top of the pool standings.

RESULTS

KZN Coastals A 8-1 Northern Free State
Southern Gauteng B 0-0 Boland A
KZN Inland A 2-2 Eastern Province A
Western Province A 0-1 Southern Gauteng A
Northern Gauteng A 4-1 Southern Free State A
Border A 1-3 Western Province B
Boland A 0-1 KZN Coastal A
Northern Free State 1-3 KZN Inland A

Day 3 Fixtures

08:45 – Southern Gauteng A vs Western Province B
10:10 – Southern Free State A vs Western Province A
11:35 – Border A vs Northern Gauteng A
13:00 – KZN Coastal A vs Southern Gauteng B
14:25 – Boland A vs KZN Inland A
15:35 – Western Province B vs Western Province A
15:50 – Eastern Province A vs Northern Free State

Hannah Smyth scored three goals across two games to lead the Southern Gauteng u18A girls’ team to the top of Pool A after Sunday’s action at the SASHOC National Week in Bloemfontein.

KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A are at the summit of Pool B after registering a win in their first match of the tournament.

The interprovincial tournament runs from 16 to 21 June.

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Smyth grabbed a brace in Southern Gauteng A’s opener against Border A. The 17-year-old opened the scoring for the Natasha Le Roux-coached outfit in the second chukka, Crucially, that goal helped to settle the nerves of the highveld side, which had looked shaky in the opening quarter.

Emily Weaver followed Smyth’s goal with one of her own 10 minutes later, and it was after that strike that the Hannah Quinton-captained outfit settled in and dictated the pace of the contest.

Smyth completed her brace in the 55th minute. Her strike came between additional field goals from Reabitswe Phume and Amber Fairon, who scored in the 52^nd and 59^th minute respectively.

“We started slowly but managed to create some opportunities a little bit later in the match. It’s nice to have a win in the first match, but it’s still day one and we have a lot to work on, including good decision making,” Le Roux told SuperSport Schools Plus after the game.

Le Roux’s charges were a changed outfit when they took to the Astro for a second time later in the day. Knowing they couldn’t afford to make mistakes against an in-form Northern Gauteng A side, Southerns didn’t put a foot wrong against their neighbours from across the Jukskei River.

Northern Gauteng A entered the tie confident after a convincing 5-0 win over Western Province A in the first match of the day.

They took their time to get going against the girls from the Cape. However, once they found their groove, they proved to be an unstoppable force.

Sinoxolo Mbekeni‘s squad had prepared for everything but the weather. They played against the Northerns u16 A boys’ team and the Tuks team before making their way to Bloemfontein. They did not win either match, but they gleaned valuable lessons from their defeats.

Northern Gauteng A’s victory was built on an outstanding hat-trick from Arista Van Zyl, the first of the tournament. Southern Gauteng A, though, demonstrated their defensive strength by keeping the menacing 17-year-old quiet for most of the contest.

Reabitswe Phume found the back of the net in the 13^th minute to put Le Roux’s side into the lead. Emily Weaver doubled their advantage in the 36^th minute and Smyth capped off a polished performance with a third goal eight minutes from time.

KZN Coastal A recovered from an early slip that left them 0-1 down to claim a 3-1 win over Eastern Province A.

Tiarra Finnis beat Ella Carstens in the Coastal’s goal 15 minutes into the tie and Geowynne Gamiet’s charges held onto the lead for 11 minutes while dictating play. They had their tails up and set about finding a second goal.

However, with five minutes to go before halftime, Jacinta Wedderburn’s girls sprang to life, with Ruby Kraus striking for KwaZulu-Natalians .

“In our half time chat, we spoke of the need for us to execute the small and simple things and the defensive principles that were really lacking to allow that kind of goal to go through. When we returned for the third chukka, we went back to basics, moved through our structures and just got the girls to work a little bit harder,” she explained.

That talk resulted in a more polished performance, which led to goals from their captain Emily Macquet and Georgia Pollock in the 37^th and 41^st minutes respectively.

While pleased with the victory, Wedderburn used the tie as an opportunity to have a good look at her side. “We came into this match not knowing what to expect. So, now we will go back and go through the video footage and chat about the areas we need to improve on,” she said.

The victory will give her side a boost of confidence ahead of Monday’s schedule, which has them playing twice. They open the day’s proceedings against Northern Free State before locking horns with Boland A in the late afternoon.

RESULTS

Northern Gauteng A 5-0 Western Province A
Southern Gauteng A 5-0 Border A
Western Province B 2-3 Southern Free State A
Eastern Province A 1-3 KZN Coastal
Northern Free State 0-0 Boland
Southern Gauteng B 0-0 KZN Inland
Southern Free State A 3-0 Border A
Southern Gauteng A 3-0 Northern Gauteng A

Day 2 Fixtures

08:30 – KZN Coastal A vs Northern Free State
09:55 – Southern Gauteng B vs Boland A
11:20 – KZN Inland A vs Eastern Province A
12:45 – Western Province A vs Southern Gauteng A
14:10 – Northern Gauteng A vs Southern Free State A
15:35 – Border A vs Western Province B
16:25 – Boland A vs KZN Coastal A
17:00 – Northern Free State vs KZN Inland A

The KwaZulu-Natal Inland u18 boys’ team returns to the annual SASHOC National Week, to be played in Bloemfontein from 16 to 21 June, intent on improving on their sixth-place finish of last year. They were third in 2022.

The Damian Kimfley-coached outfit is in Pool B, along with Southern Gauteng A, KZN Coastal A, Northern Gauteng A, Southern Free State A and Eastern Province A. That’s a tough lineup.

They begin their campaign with a contest against Northern Gauteng A on Sunday afternoon. The KZN team defeated the highveld side 1-0 last year, on their way to an overall record of four wins, two losses and a single draw.

Their campaign was held together by the goal-scoring abilities of Nicholas Chantler and captain, Wian Liebenberg, who scored seven goals between them. Chantler, with four, was the team’s leading scorer. Overall, KZN Inland finished with a total of 13 goals scored and nine conceded.

Kimfley hopes that Grant Bridgeford will use his experience to direct the defence. The Hilton College learner was a part of the KZN Inland u18 team last year and represented the SA U17 team in Malaysia in late 2023.

“The selection is a tough process with us having a small pool of players to pick from. But the selectors and I were very deliberate in how we picked the team, with boys having tactical and technical proficiency,” Kimfley said.

KZN Inland’s last line of defence will be filled by another experienced young man. Like Bridgeford, goalkeeper Nicholas Holmes was part of the KZN Inland u18 team last year and a member of the SA u17 team that finished as the runners-up at the Mirnawan Cup.

Kimfley is known for building teams that play attacking and entertaining hockey. This year, the KZN Inland coach is blessed with the talents of his Hilton College captain, Jared Kitto. Skilled and experienced, he shares the same range of experience as Bridgeford and Holmes. His spatial awareness and creative gameplay in the midfield will be a boon for the KZN side.

The KZN Inland captain will form a middle-of-the-astro partnership with Ipeleng Mosupye, who is enjoying a good season with Maritzburg College.

“We also made sure that we have a good penalty corner team in terms of injectors, two or more flickers and stoppers. That left us short at last year’s IPT,” Kimfley explained.

Uyanda Dlamini will spearhead the KZN Inland attack. The 17-year-old scored a solitary goal when he turned out for the provincial side last year. Kimfley hopes that the teenager will be in good form and that he’ll be able to use his experience up front.

While positive in perspective, Kimfley is quick to point out that his team has a bit of a mountain to climb. “We are aware it’s going to be extremely tough, seeing as we are in the Group of Death, where there are just A teams. This is a challenge on its own.

“Everybody in the tournament wants to leave with a medal. So, we will try to compete and play entertaining hockey,” he concluded.

Cohesion should not be an issue for the KZN Inland u18A team. The squad features eight players from Hilton College, seven players from Maritzburg College and one from Michaelhouse. There will be a lot of familiar combinations in the side.

KZN Inland U18 team: Nicholas Holmes (Maritzburg College), Dane Jackson (Maritzburg College), Murray Loughor-Clark (Hilton College), Grant Bridgeford (Hilton College), Jayden Roux (Hilton College), Joshua Julius (Hilton College), Kadin Jenkins (Maritzburg College), Uyanda Dlamini (Maritzburg College), Reagan Madua (Hilton College), Ipeleng Mosupye (Maritzburg College), Jarred Kitto (Hilton College), Banele Dlamini (Maritzburg College), Tinotendo Hove (Hilton College), Masud Dakile (Hilton College), Julian Konigkramer (Maritzburg College), Gordon Deutscher (Michaelhouse)