Jonker shines as SA u17A girls bag third win
South Africa u17A faced a tough test and prevailed with a 3-0 win over Zimbabwe u18A in their third Allistar Fredericks Africa Challenge match at St David’s Marist Inanda, in Sandton, on Thursday evening.
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Coach Omari Pienaar-Geyer’s charges have displayed good goalscoring instincts, netting 11 goals in three matches against Zimbabwe, while their backline has shown composure and skill, keeping three consecutive clean sheets.
With one game to go in the four-match series, South Africa leads 3-0. It’s been good preparation for the home side, which will contest the annual Dato Mirnawan Cup, in Malaysia, in November.
In their first meeting with Zimbabwe, on Tuesday, South Africa registered a 4-0 win. They followed that up with another 4-0 win on Wednesday.
Early on, in Thursday’s clash, South Africa dominated and earned five penalty corners in the first chukka without conceding one. They converted two of those into goals.
Timari Jonker, who was recognised as the Player of the Match for her industrious and effective performance, gave South Africa the lead when she converted their second PC of the match by deflecting a ball from Raffael Abrahams into the back of the net.
Claire Volschenk made it 2-0, also from a short corner. Zimbabwe thought they had done well to parry a South African shot on goal, but Volschenk pounced on the rebound and executed a brilliant tomahawk to score four minutes before the end of the chukka.
There was enough time for South Africa to add another before the quarter came to an end. Busiwe Mayekiso, who scored three times at the SASHOC National Week for Border, recorded her maiden international goal when she received a wonderful pass in the circle and made no mistake from close to the penalty spot.
Two minutes before halftime, Zimbabwe had an opportunity to pull a goal back when they were awarded a penalty stroke. Jodie Anderson tried to fire the ball into the top right corner. However, instead of finding the back of the net, the ball was met by goalkeeper Peyton Marais, who pulled off a brilliant save.
After conceding three times in the opening chukka, Zimbabwe improved in the second and third chukkas, enjoying more possession than they had been afforded in the early going. However, they struggled to create goal scoring opportunities. South Africa, on the other hand, caused problems in the Zimbabwe final third, but lacked the last touch.
The final chukka was hotly contested. Zimbabwe mustered some enterprising sprints into the South African half and final third. But they were met by a stubborn and composed defence. SA goalie, Annika Kloppers, didn’t have much to do, needing to make only one save.
At the other end of the field, South Africa launched several forays into the Zimbabwean half, but they were slowed by a sea of white shirts, with the Zimbabweans determined not to concede any more goals. Pienaar-Geyer’s side gave it a good go, but there was no give in the Zimbabwe defence.
On Friday evening, the South Africa u17 side will have one more opportunity to fine-tune their combinations. The fourth and final match of the series takes place at 17:00 at St David’s Marist Inanda.
Results
SA u17A: 3 (Timari Jonker, Claire Volschenk, Busiwe Mayekiso). Zimbabwe u18A: 0.
SA u16A: 7. Zimbabwe u16A: 0.
