On Saturday, 4 May, Union High School’s junior hockey teams competed against Westering Primary School.
The 2nd Juniors took to the field first, a little bit later than expected as their opposition was late in arriving from Port Elizabeth. After the wait, the girls were excited to finally get on the field, but then had a rather shaky start to the game. They soon settled, however, and quickly started piecing together some fine runs of play.
The teams were very evenly matched throughout the game with possession changing constantly and neither team getting a chance to dominate. The match was looking to end in a goalless draw, when Westering managed to slot home a lovely goal in the dying minutes of the game, giving them a 1 – 0 win.
The 1st Juniors’ match that followed, started off with an aggressive attack by Union which had Westering on the back foot for the first few minutes of the game. Westering, however, slowly regained their equilibrium and the match became a ding-dong battle for possession, with both teams showing some fine teamwork and also some lovely individual displays of skill.
Westering was first to score, which galvanized the Union team into action and they soon equalized through a joint effort between Aaminah Steele (who capitalized on a loose ball in the circle) and Leshay Fourie (who finished it off).
Throughout the rest of the game, Westering pieced together many attacks and managed to score three brilliant goals, while Union responded with another joint effort between Xarah Hoffman (who drove the ball into the circle) and Chloe Erasmus (who added the finishing touch).
Union had more than a few opportunities that they didn’t utilise and the team will need to concentrate hard on the basics in the weeks to come. Mention must definitely be made of Sadé May, who worked like a Trojan throughout the match and made many game-changing tackles and passes.
Sethu Vena – in the goal-box – was also instrumental in making sure the score-line was restricted. Without her composure while under attack, the outcome would most certainly have been very different.
A word of thanks is also extended to Kyle-Luke du Preez who has been offering valuable assistance with the coaching and umpiring of these two teams.