Erin Hunter
Not being able to successfully defend their Varsity Hockey title is a big disappointment for the players of the Steinhoff Maties Women’s Hockey team, but coach Jenny King is already looking forward to the future.
Maties lost in the semi-final of the Varsity Hockey tournament to Kovsies on Monday night in Johannesburg. Maties finished fourth overall in this year’s tournament. Kovsies will play against UJ in the final. “The team hates loosing, but I am not particularly disappointed in the semi-final result as the team played top hockey, the Kovsies are far more experienced and a better team than us, so a great performance on the night sets us in good stead for our USSA preparations. We have also identified areas we need to improve in order to match their strengths and this we will do over the next 50 days,” said King.
According to King the big difference between the two teams – Maties and Kovsies – was experience. “Kovsies are at the end of a five-year cycle and the experience of their players showed. Maties was a relatively inexperienced side (hence inconsistent performances) – we had 8 first years. We will have to work at sustaining top performances over eight matches,” said King.
The second weekend of Varsity Hockey was a rollercoaster ride of performances from Maties. “The team’s performances were inconsistent with regards to level of play and focus, this we will have to address through the league matches ahead. However the team played their best hockey when under pressure to perform and the tournament has given us a good idea of where we lie nationally with regards to University Sport.”
The next big challenge for Maties will be the national students tournament where they are also the defending champions. The tournament will be held in Pietermaritzburg from 29 June to 3 July 2015.