Holderness shines as Eastern Province A storms to the top of Pool A
Eastern Province A captain, Abigail Holderness, brought the heat to a chilly KZN midlands day with a five-goal haul on the opening day of the SASHOC Inter-Provincial Tournament.
The industrious midfielder fired in a hat-trick and a brace to help Eastern Province A secure back-to-back victories over Southern Gauteng B and Boland A on Monday.
The inter-provincial matches are being split between St Anne’s Diocesan College and Maritzburg College, with the showpiece event running through until 5 July.
“Abigail led the team from the front in both matches today,” Geowynne Gamiet, the Eastern Province A coach, told Supersport Schools Plus.
Holderness fired in a hat-trick in Eastern Province’s 6-0 victory over Southern Gauteng B, then she drilled in another two goals as EP edged out Boland A 2-1 later in the day in a meeting of two of the title contenders.
Last year, Eastern Province finished ninth. While low, that placing did not tell the full story of the province. Their hockey was on the rise, and their u16 A team winning the 2024 National Week was proof of that.
Gamiet has retained six players from last year’s u18 team, while the rest of the lineup moved up from the u16 side.
“We wanted to blow Southern Gauteng B out of the water early,” he said of his side’s opener. “The girls followed the gameplan well and we got the results we were after.”
Taryn Peltenburg opened the scoring for Eastern Province in the fifth minute before Holderness slotted goals in the sixth and 14th minutes to put Eastern Province 3-0 up in the first chukka. As Gamiet had hoped, they had blown their opposition out of the water.
Southern Gauteng B sorted their defence out and was competitive in the next two quarters. However, Eastern Province rediscovered the spark they had shown early in the contest and struck three more times in the fourth chukka,
Holderness completed her hattrick in the 47th minute before Kate Brennan and Amber-Rose Roth-Uren found the back of the net in the 52nd and 54th minutes respectively.
Eastern Province faced a far tougher challenge when they crossed swords with Boland A later in the day. Boland came into the fixture after thrashing Southern Free State 5-0 in the morning.
Leah du Plessis led the charge in their opening victory, with a hat-trick, while Anya Swanepoel and Rose Quinlivan contributed a goal each.
“We made a few technical changes when we played against Boland and the girls adapted well to the switch,” Gamiet said.
In a back-and-forth opening half, EP and Boland finished the first chukka goalless. It was very nearly goalless at the break, too, but Holderness struck from a penalty corner.
All three of her goals against Southern Gauteng B had also been scored from the set piece and she continued her high PC conversion rate with another drag flick scorcher.
After the break, Boland was determined to strike back and the pressure exerted by coach Chris Gerber‘s side paid dividends when Elré Oosthuizen tapped the ball into the back of the net off a short corner variation after Boland had been awarded four PCs in a six-minute period.
Eastern Provinces responded immediately. With just less than two minutes remaining in the third chukka, Gamiet’s charges reclaimed the lead.
The goal, like their first one, was through a penalty corner. This time, however, Eastern Province didn’t take the direct route. Like Boland, they opted for a variation and paid off with Holderness, again, providing the finish.
On Tuesday, they’ll have an opportunity to strengthen their position at the top of Pool A when they lock horns with the defending champions, Southern Gauteng A, at 13:10.
Coach Natasha Le Roux’s Southerns’ side is in second place after a 1-0 win over Northern Gauteng B, which was followed by a sharing of the points with Southern Free State A, with whom they drew 0-0.
Results
Eastern Province A: 6 – Abigail Holderness (3), Taryn Peltenburg, Kate Brennan, Amber-Rose Roth-Uren. Southern Gauteng B: 0.
Southern Gauteng A: 1 – Azania Petersen. Northern Gauteng B: 0.
Southern Gauteng A: 0. Southern Free State A: 0.
Eastern Province A: 2 – Abigail Holderness (2). Boland A: 1 – Elré Oosthuizen.
Boland A: 5 – Leah du Plessis (3), Anya Swanepoel, Rose Quinlivan. Southern Free State A: 0.
