Hockey, Sport Results

Snr Hockey Results vs Pearson

Well done to the hockey teams for braving today’s cold and wet weather conditions in Port Elizabeth.  Union played against Pearson High School.

The competition was tough, but the girls gave it their all and worked as a team to get the goals they could.Today’s matches saw the 3rd team lose 0 – 6, the 2nd team 1 – 2, the u/16As 1 – 2 and the u/16Bs 0 – 7 with the 1st team drawing their match 2 – 2.

Congratulations to Chelsea Theron (photo) who played her 50th cap for the 1st hockey team in the match against Pearson today.

Hockey, Sport Results

Interprovincial Hockey Tournaments

U/18 Interprovincial Tournament

During the recent school holidays – from the 16th to the 22nd of June – Jenna McNaughton and Micela Loock represented the EP u/18A team at an interprovincial hockey tournament held in Pietermaritzburg.

After five games, the team ended top of their pool with a goal difference of 23.  Having successfully qualified for the semi-finals, they then pitted their skills against that of the Northern Blues.  After this tightly contested match ended in a 1-all draw, a penalty shootout ensued, which the EP side unfortunately lost.  They then contested the tournament’s 3rd and 4th position against Southern Gauteng.  After losing this game, they ended 4th overall out of 12 teams.

Both players enjoyed the tournament tremendously and were grateful for the opportunity to improve their hockey.

U/14 Interprovincial Tournament

Grade 7 learner Sonwabise Mroro was recently part of the u/14B team that represented the Eastern Province at the inter-provincial hockey tournament held in Bloemfontein (23 to 27 June).

The team fared exceptionally well, especially considering that they were a ‘B’ side competing in the ‘A’ division

The team finished 8th overall among 11 ‘A’ sides and 3 ‘B’ sides.

The team’s coach only had the highest of praise for Soso, saying, “Soso had a fantastic tournament showcasing her talent and growing as an individual player.”

Well played Soso!

Hockey, Rugby, Sport Results

Sport Results vs Gill College and Gill Primary School

Emotions ran high during Saturday’s derby day against Gill College and Gill Primary School.

The day, which was as usual characterised by wonderful interaction between the schools involved, saw the matric 1st XV rugby boys represent Union High School for the very last time on home soil.

Many Old Unionites filled the stands to support the players.

Rugby Results

The rugby matches against Gill delivered mixed results, with the U/14s losing 10 – 20, the U/15s winning 36 – 7, the U/16s winning 47 – 12, the second team winning 31 – 12 and the 1st XVs losing 16 – 21.

Senior 1st Team Report
The first team match – which also happened to be the matric 1st XV rugby boys’ last one on home soil – was fiercely contested with both teams taking the lead on occasions.  Union managed to gain the lead and maintained it until the last five minutes.

However, in a game where Union dominated possession and set phases, the Union players were, unfortunately, unable to take full advantage of the many opportunities presented to them, which allowed Gill to stay in the game.

The only difference between the two sides on the day was that one was able to take full advantage of their chances, therefore, in the end, it was Gill College that came out on top winning the match 21 – 16.

Although it was a tough start to the third term, the team hopes to bounce back in a spectacular fashion in their next fixture against Pearson.

Hockey Results

Union’s hockey teams had a successful encounter against Gill today, with the 1st Juniors winning their match 3 – 0 and the 2nd Juniors winning 1 – 0.

The school’s senior 2nd team won 8 – 0 and the 1st team enjoyed a 17 – 0 victory.

Senior 1st Team Report
Gill opted to play a match of 4 quarters which seemed to suit the Union girls’ style of play and saw the 1st quarter provide 4 brilliantly worked goals in favour of Union.

Union then continued to dominate the match with some slick and accurate passing and great finishing in the goal area. Three goals were scored in the 2nd quarter, 6 in the 3rd and 4 in the last quarter.

The final score stood at 17 – 0 in Union’s favour.

The Union girls put up a good performance overall and positive signs are showing ahead of some tough fixtures to come.

Union’s goals were scored by Micela Loock (7), Jenna McNaughton (3), Henze Japhta (4), Laetitia Theron (1), Chelsea Theron (1) and Jade Shires (1).

Junior 1st Team Report
After a long holiday break, the girls got off to a rather slow start, with some uninspiring play.   As the first half continued however, Union eventually found their rhythm and began to play to their strengths against the determined Gill side. Shortly before the half time whistle sounded, Lisa Menos and Leshay Fourie scored an opportunistic goal to put Union into the lead. The second half saw Union stepping up the pace and dominating play. Soso Mroro and Chloe Erasmus collaborated beautifully to add to the scoreboard with a text-book perfect, field goal; and then Lisa Menos and Leshay Fourie again proved to be the duo of the day as they slotted home the final goal of the match, giving Union a convincing 3-0 win.

It is incredible to see how much this young team has grown over the course of the season and we can only hope that they maintain this momentum as we work towards the end of the season which culminates with the traditional inter-school’s fixture.

 

Hockey, Rugby, Sport Results

Westering Co-Ed Festival

This weekend, Port Elizabeth’s Westering High School hosted their 11th biennial Co-Ed Festival, playing host to 17 schools with around 800 participating learners from around the country.

Jade Shires was announced as the Player of the Match in the Union vs Cambridge game

Union’s 1st hockey and rugby teams were among those who attended this much-anticipated sports festival.

The hockey team beat Port Alfred 12 – 0, lost 0 – 2 to Westering, drew 0 – 0 against Cambridge, won 5 – 0 against Linkside and drew 0 – 0 against Framesby.

The rugby team had two matches over the weekend. They, unfortunately, lost 14 – 24 against Fairmont and 36 – 17 against Itembelihle.

Hockey, Sport Results

Jnr Hockey Results vs VP & Gill

The UHS junior hockey teams faced both Victoria Primary and Gill Primary on Union High School’s AstroTurf today, Saturday, 8 June.

In their matches against Victoria Primary, the 4th juniors lost 0 – 2, the 3rd juniors won 1 – 0, the 2nd juniors drew 0 – 0 and the 1st juniors won 2 – 0.

In the Gill encounters, the 2nd juniors lost 0 – 1 and the 1st juniors won 1 – 0.

The 1st Juniors played entertaining hockey in this home fixture against Victoria Park Primary and came away with a deserving 2 – 0 victory. Our girls played superior hockey throughout and maintained possession for a large percentage of the game. Some beautiful individual and team efforts made this a thrilling game to watch and both goals scored were as a result of some excellent team work. Well done to Soso Mroro who worked hard to set up both goals, and to Lisakhanya Menos and Leshay Fourie who were perfectly positioned to capitalise on these goal opportunities. Special mention must go to Alinda Goosen and Tyra Binney who both worked hard and controlled the game beautifully from the back and set up some great plays.

In the match against Gill the team maintained their momentum and again thoroughly dominated the game and were unfortunate to only win by one goal to nil. The girls are now displaying a maturity and work-ethic in their hockey that has thus far been lacking. They can be proud of their efforts over the last two weeks and I hope that they continue to grow over the rest of the season.

Hockey, Sport Results

Jnr Hockey Results vs Cradock

JUNIOR HOCKEY VS CRADOCK (home) – 25 MAY 2019

3rd Jnr won 3 – 0

2nd Jnr drew 0 – 0

1st Jnr lost 0 – 2

Our Junior hockey teams hosted Cradock Primary this weekend in hot, dry conditions. Despite a great start to the morning, with a fine win by the 3rd team girls, the 2nd and 1st team girls were unable to maintain the momentum and neither managed to put a score on the board.

The girls came up against tough opposition from a physical Cradock side and although they tried hard to penetrate the defenses, they were denied success.

The second team girls played well, and displayed some lovely passing skills, but were unfortunately a little too “polite” on the day and would certainly have benefited from being a touch more aggressive in getting to the ball first. Mention must be made of Emma Short, who through exceptional work epitomised this skill on the day, and as a result, directly initiated the majority of our circle entries. The teams were very evenly matched and this made for an entertaining outing for the spectators.

The first team girls appeared to be a little lethargic in their match against the spirited Cradock team and consequently spent a lot of the game on defense which left us rattled and produced some scrappy play. While the teams did appear fairly evenly matched in skill, our girls were just a touch slower off the mark and this put us under great pressure for much of the match. We did manage more than a few circle entries, but were unable to convert, while Cradock were able to push two soft goals home after some sloppy defense on our behalf.

This was not the best result to give us confidence for our upcoming encounter against Collegiate next weekend, but it has given us scope to reflect on what we are doing wrong so that we can work on improving our game plan and our mindset for future fixtures.

Hockey, Sport Results

Snr Hockey Results vs Cradock

UHS hockey shows determination

On Saturday, 18 May, the three hockey matches played at the UHS AstroTurf resulted in three victories for the Union teams who faced off against their Cradock High School counterparts.

From the get-go, Cradock struggled against the fine hockey being presented by the Union teams on the turf and Union proceeded to dominate in what has, in years gone by, always been a tough encounter.

The u/16B team was first to take to the turf, winning their bout 9 – 0, the Union second team then followed suit, winning their match 8 – 0.

At the start of the match between the two school’s first teams that followed, the Union girls battled to stamp their authority on the game, despite six or more attempts at goal in the first quarter, with only Marche Green being able to find the back of the net in the 12th minute.

Union, however, settled into their game plan and the second quarter saw Micela Loock score an excellent goal in the first minute and Henzѐ Jaftha another well-worked goal in the third minute.  Jenna McNaughton then scored in the sixth minute to follow suit.  With the half time score standing at 4 – 0 in Union’s favour, the second half saw Union again firing on all cylinders with Henze, Jade and Micela scoring in the third, fourth and 14th minute respectively.

The fourth quarter saw the Union team again attacking from the outset which saw Micela scored two more goals and Jenna one more to bring the final score to stand at 10 – 0 to Union.

“This was by far the girls’ best performance to date, with excellent passing, ball speed and vision leading to an entertaining match,” said proud coach Alvin August. “More of these performances will see our girls become a force to be reckoned with among the Top 8 teams in the Eastern Cape.”

Hockey, Sport Results

Jnr Hockey Results vs Riebeek College

Union’s junior hockey teams arrived in Uitenhage on Saturday (18 May), greeted by lovely weather and very welcoming hosts.

The teams had a great encounter against Riebeek College, with the 3rd Juniors winning 3 – 0, the 2nd Juniors losing 0 – 1 and the 1st Juniors winning 5 – 3.

1st JUNIORS MATCH REPORT

Our junior hockey girls travelled to Uitenhage this weekend to compete against Riebeek College. After a hard mid-week lesson against Gill on grass, the girls were much better prepared for this encounter. They turned on the pressure from the get-go, with our first shot at goal coming within the first 15 seconds of the match. From this moment on, a fast-paced tussle for the lead ensued, and while Union were undoubtedly in control of the game, Riebeek were ultimately the first to score. By the time the whistle at the end of the first half went, Union were down 1 goal to 2.

The 2nd half commenced with a renewed effort from our gutsy girls and they worked extremely hard to maintain this pressure for the remainder of the game. Once they took the lead, they never looked back, thus securing a well-deserved victory for themselves. The goal scorers on the day were Soso Mroro (3 goals), Chloe Erasmus (1) and Charlize Vorster (1).

All the girls played very well, but the following deserve special mention: Sadé May (whose phenomenal work-rate was key to the team’s success); Alinda Goosen (whose solid defense stymied many attacks); Soso Mroro (with her 3 timely goals) and finally, Bontle Mashiane (who stepped in at the last minute as keeper for the team and did a sterling job on her first time out).

Congratulations on a fine result girls!

Hockey, Sport Results

Union Learners in EP Hockey Squad

Union learners in EP hockey squad

Hockey at Union High School continues to flourish as is evident by the exceptional performances of the players at the recent provincial trials.

Three learners, Micela Loock, Jenna McNaughton and Sonwabise Mroro, were selected to represent the province at interprovincial tournaments in the coming June school holiday.

Micela Loock, Jenna McNaughton and Sonwabise Mroro

Jenna and Micela will represent the EP u/18A team in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands (15 to 22 June) and Sonwabise the EP u/14B team in Bloemfontein (23 to 27 June).

“Playing at provincial level affords players the opportunity to participate at the highest level and grow their skills through the experience,” said coach Alvin August.  “We are incredibly proud of each and every one of them and wish them the best of luck for the forthcoming tournaments.”

Hockey, Sport Results

Jnr Hockey vs Westering

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.