Like their men counterparts the Steinhoff Maties Women’s hockey team defended the Western Province Grand Challenge title with success.
On Saturday the league came to an end for Maties with a 4-0 victory over WPCC. This result not only confirmed the title for Maties, but also secured second place in the Grand Challenge for Vics. It is only the second time that this has happened.
For Maties captain Hanli Hattingh it was a big season with a lot of pressure and big expectations. Winning the Grand Challenge was one of the biggest goals for Hattingh and her team. “I think even though the Grand Challenge doesn’t get as much coverage as SASSU or Varsity Hockey because it runs over a much longer time span it is still the primary focus of the team to win the league, because it proves that the team can not only compete against over universities but also, all the over local clubs, with players that has even more experience. Therefore I think it is still very important to win grand challenge.”
This was the 30th time Maties won the Grand Challenge. “I think it was expected of Maties to win the Grand Challenge again because of our previous record winning it many times before and also the amount of training we put in comparing to other teams in the league it is expected that we perform well.”
On Saturday the team also had to say good bye to some of the legends in the team. They included Farah Fredericks and Leigh Boardman who played at the Maties hockey club for the past 10 years. It was also Hattingh’s last game for Maties.