Erin Hunter
Steinhoff Maties Hockey women made a strong start to the defence of their Varsity Hockey title.
This past weekend the action took place in Potchestroom. Four games were played on four consecutive days. Maties won three of these four matches and are currently third overall behind the undefeated Tuks and Kovsies. “The Varsity Sport competition has again proved that it is one of the most fiercely contested tournaments on the hockey calendar. There are five teams all competing for a semi-final berth, and as expected there is little between the five teams,” said coach Jenny King.
Maties started the weekend by beating Wits 3-0, before going down to Kovsies on day two. Then came the comeback against NMMU (6-0) and the last match was against home team Pukke (1-0). The loss against Kovsies was the biggest disappointment of the weekend. “I am glad that we got 13 points from the weekend and giving ourselves a realistic chance of qualifying for the semi-finals although this is not yet a given, so we still have some work to do.”
Bronwyn Kretzman was Maties’ star player. She was awarded Player of the Match twice and also won the Striker of the Match award two times. Against Pukke goalkeeper Nicole La Fleur was the Player of the Match. “The 7 first years in the team were able to adjust so well to the difference in this competition hockey to that which they experienced at school level. It was a baptism of fire and not one let us down. It was a great team effort with the seniors setting the example and leading the way.”
This weekend the action moves to Johannesburg. Maties will take on Ikeys, UJ and Tuks. “We have two really high competitive matches ahead of us, and a challenge to get the bonus point against UCT, so that will be our first aim.”
Schedule: FRIDAY – Maties v Ikeys at 15:15; SATURDAY – Maties v UJ at 17:00; SUNDAY – Maties v Tuks at 13:30.