A fiery war of attrition ended by a goal from red-hot red head Matt de Sousa is the best way to describe the Varsity Hockey match between Maties and the men from UJ.
De Sousa, who made his debut for Maties only a few weeks ago, scored the only goal in the 1-0 victory over the current USSA champions. The match against UJ was the third of the weekend. Maties won the Intervarsity match against Ikeys 4-0 and followed it up with a win over NMMU with 3-2.
After the second weekend of the 2014 Varsity Hockey series UJ, Maties, Tuks and Kovsies are all on 20 points after four victories from six matches. UJ is at the top thanks to a better goal difference.
De Sousa, James Drummond (2) and Charles Bowren scored the goals against Ikeys, while De Sousa and Shannon Boucher (2) kept the scoreboard ticking against NMMU. In both these games De Sousa were awarded the Super Striker of the Match title. Boucher took the honours against UJ. Dylan Swanepoel was the man of the match against Ikeys. Daniel Bell was the best player on the field in the games against NMMU and UJ.
The match between UJ and Maties was labeled the highlight of the weekend in Stellenbosch. And the players did not disappoint. In the first of three chukkas Maties controlled most of the play. They had a few penalty corners but could not capitalise. The second and third chukkas were very tense and tempers were high especially from the UJ players.
When De Sousa scored, some of the UJ players lost their tempers and no less then three players were send off in the final minutes.
This while Maties kept their cool in front of some 600 fans.
The final round is this weekend in Johannesburg. Maties will play Rhodes on Saturday and the semi-finals between the top four teams are on Sunday. The final and play-off for third and fourth places is on Monday. The Sunday and Monday games will be broadcasted on television.
For more information visit www.varsitysportssa.com.