The third day of action saw some movement in and amongst the two tournaments with a double header round of six games taking place in the women’s tournament, offering a tantalizing day of action at St. Stithians College and Morningside Country Club.
Men’s B Section
It was a great day in the office for the Free State side as they saw themselves launch to the top spot of the Men’s B Section on Wednesday. They had to do it the hard way when they found themselves trailing to KZN Mynahs when Cameron Hallowes opened the scoring. They were able to restore parity just before half time as Michael Baiden’s effort found the back of the net. With the game, and top spot, on a knife’s edge it was Hann-ru van Wyk scored what would be the winner to catapult Free State to first place.
Second spot belongs to SA Country Districts thanks to a fine victory against Northern Cape. Carlyle Volmink and TJoff van Staden both scored in the first half. SA Indoor Hockey star Steven Paolo added a brace to make it 4-0 before Northern Cape pulled one back through Jayesh Kanjee. But SACD would finish the job in the final quarter with two more goals thanks to Courtney Halle and Robbie Corker to secure a 6-1 victory.
Third place is the SG Nuggets, level on points with SACD, just behind on goal difference. The team from the host province fought out a brilliant and tense battle in the early morning game against Northern Daisies. Leandro Carvalho scored the only goal of the game in the second quarter and the points were settled in a 1-0 win.
Men’s B Section – Fixtures – 12 September 2024
08:30 – KZN Mynahs vs. Northern Cape
11:50 – SG Nuggets vs. Free State
15:10 – SACD vs. Northern Daisies
All games are streamed live on Supersport Schools
Women’s B Section
KZN Mynahs continue to hold the lead in the women’s B section, but their title charge was dealt a significant blow when they suffered a shock defeat to Eastern Province in the afternoon game. Elan van Vught and Asithandile Nama scored the goals to open their account in the tournament and produce the biggest shock of the tournament so far.
KZN Mynahs had earlier battled to a 2-1 win over SACD to open a gap at the top of the log with goals from Emily Macquet and Britney Nel sandwiching a reply from Tanya van Bosch. Eastern Province had gone down to WP Peninsula with Lize Steyn scoring the only goal of the game to keep WP Pens as the most likely challengers for the title.
WP Peninsula made it a two out of two day when they defeated Mpumalanga in the afternoon game. Isabella Booyens and Ashley de Villiers scored to dismiss the challenge of Mpumalanga.
Mpumalanga themselves produced a crazy game with Eastern Gauteng. Idali Janse opened the scoring for Mpumalanga before Theron Mialette levelled. With the clock running down Mpumalanga fired home not once but twice in the final minute through Chaney Prinsloo and Nobuhle Dlamini to win 3-1.
In the final game of the day, it was a route for the Northern Daisies with a massive 8-0 victory over Eastern Gauteng. Elizabeth Porter scored a hat-trick, while Pretty Morema got a brace. There were also goals for Arista van Zyl, Xena Abrahams and Nicola Meyer as the East Rand side had no answers to the tough questions.
Women’s B Section – Fixtures – 12 September 2024
10:10 – WP Peninsula vs. SACD
13:30 – Eastern Province vs. Eastern Gauteng
16:50 – KZN Mynahs vs. Northern Daisies
All games are streamed live on Supersport Schools
