{"id":76443,"date":"2025-07-01T07:41:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T05:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=76443"},"modified":"2025-07-01T07:41:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T05:41:26","slug":"three-teams-gridlocked-at-the-top-of-pool-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=76443","title":{"rendered":"Three teams gridlocked at the top of Pool B"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Western Province A made a strong start to the u18 SASHOC National Week with a convincing win over KZN Inland A on day one at Pape’s Astro, Maritzburg College, 30 June 2025. Photo: Teamphoto SA<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northern Gauteng A<\/strong>, Western Province A<\/strong>, and KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A<\/strong> were tied at the top of Pool B<\/strong> in the girls’ u18 section after day one’s action at the SASHOC Inter-Provincial Tournament <\/strong>on Monday.<\/p>\n

All three won their opening fixtures and are separated by goal difference only.<\/p>\n

KZN Coastal A, who kicked off their campaign with a 4-0 drubbing of Western Province B<\/strong>, are sitting at the summit.<\/p>\n

Western Province A lies second after a 3-0 win over KZN Inland A<\/strong>, and Northern Gauteng A holds down third spot, thanks to a 3-1 defeat of Border A.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The event, being hosted by KZN Inland, is being played at St Anne’s DSG<\/strong>, in Hilton, and Maritzburg College<\/strong>, in Pietermaritzburg, and runs through to 5 July.<\/p>\n

Sinoxolo Mbekeni<\/strong>‘s Northern Gauteng A scripted an incredible run at last year’s tournament. They went all the way through to the final, where they lost to Southern Gauteng A<\/strong> in a penalty shootout. in 2025, only two players, Andrea Groenewald<\/strong> and Okuhle Ntshaba<\/strong>, are back from that team.<\/p>\n

While the lineup is almost completely different, Mbekeni’s side is keen to write another stirring chapter in the province’s hockey history.<\/p>\n

“I think we took a while to get going in the game today. We were not doing the right things often enough,” Mbekeni told Supersport Schools Plus<\/strong><\/a> after her side scored a hard-fought win.<\/p>\n

In the first chukka, Northerns A trailed 0-1 after a field goal from Tarelle Jones <\/strong>gave Border the lead in the 11th minute. That goal, however, stirred Northern Gauteng A to life. Still, it took them a long time before they finally cracked Border’s defence.<\/p>\n

At last, though, in the 45th minute, Thato Dimpe<\/strong> registered Northern Gauteng’s first goal. Then, while Border was still feeling their way back, Motlatle Amogelang<\/strong> struck two minutes later with another field goal to give Northerns the lead for the first time.<\/p>\n

Zoe Badenhorst<\/strong> hammered the final nail in the coffin with a last-minute strike, again a field goal, to secure victory for Mbekeni\u2019s outfit.<\/p>\n

“I think we did well in focusing on the right things and we needed to keep playing our style to ensure success,” Mbekeni summed up the win.<\/p>\n

Western Province A arrived in Pietermaritzburg determined to banish memories of last year’s campaign. They finished in a disappointing seventh place in Bloemfontein, and they wanted to consign that effort to history.<\/p>\n

Hannah Henderson<\/strong>, Samantha Flint<\/strong>, Georgia Maw<\/strong>, Jehan Abrahams<\/strong>, Khanya Moore<\/strong>, and Zara Berrisford<\/strong>, all members of last year’s side, were especially intent on writing a new, exciting chapter.<\/p>\n

The Natalie Esteves<\/strong>-coached side make a good start to that endeavour with a 3-0 victory over KZN Inland to get their campaign underway in style, with Emma Hibbert<\/strong>, Chelsey McGregor<\/strong>, and Thimna Waka<\/strong> netting for Western Province A.<\/p>\n

After 32 minutes, Hibbert converted a penalty corner to put Western Province A ahead. McGregor doubled their lead with a field goal nine minutes later, and Waka made it 3-0 in the final seconds of the contest.<\/p>\n

KZN Coastal finished third in 2024, and a win in their opener helped lay a sound foundation for another run at the title.<\/p>\n

Nicola Dudas<\/strong> inspired Coastal to victory with a brace, which bookended their scoring. She slotted the opener in the 16th minute, which was the first of three goals in three minutes for the KZN side. Zezethu Kunene<\/strong> doubled Coastal’s lead a minute later before Gabi Howarth<\/strong> rounded off the blitz in the 18th minute.<\/p>\n

In the 34th minute, Dudas increased the cushion to four goals. That was a mountain too high for Western Province B to climb.<\/p>\n

Western Province A will have an opportunity to claim their second win of the tournament when they go up against Border A at 07:30 on Tuesday morning. Northern Gauteng A will joust with Western Province B at 08:55, and KZN Coastal has a date with their neighbours and hosts, KZN Inland A at 10:20.<\/p>\n

Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Northern Gauteng A: 3<\/strong> – Thato Dimpe, Amogelang Motlatle, Zoe Badenhorst. Border A: 1<\/strong> – Tarelle Jones.
\nWestern Province A: 3<\/strong> – Emma Hibbert, Chelsey McGregor, Thimna Waka. KZN Inland A: 0.<\/strong>
\nKZN Coastal A: 4<\/strong> – Nicola Dudas (2), Zezethu Kunene, Gabi Howarth. Western Province B: 0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern Gauteng A, Western Province A, and KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A were tied at the top of Pool B in the girls’ u18 section after day one’s action at the SASHOC Inter-Provincial Tournament on Monday. All three won their opening fixtures and are separated by goal difference only. KZN Coastal A, who kicked off their campaign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":76444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}