Northern Gauteng A’s Cinderella story continues
Northern Gauteng A became the first team to book a spot to compete for the Sandra Jordaan Trophy at the u18 SASHOC National Week in Bloemfontein on Thursday.
In a tightly contested semi-final, they deadlocked 1-1 with KwaZulu-Natal Coastal, before edging out their opponents 3-2 in the subsequent penalty shootout.
Northerns will face Southern Gauteng A for the title. It is the first time in many years that sides from the same province will duel for the trophy.
Catch the final live on SuperSport Schools
Northerns were one of the less fancied outfits in Pool A, where the defending champions, Southern Free State A, and Southern Gauteng A were expected to be the dominant sides.
However, Sinoxolo Mbekeni’s charges proved themselves to the dark horses of the tournament. Now, heading into Friday, they have a 50-50 chance of winning the title. They also have an opportunity to avenge a 0-3 defeat they suffered at the hands of Southern Gauteng A in their second pool match.
Up against KZN Coastal in the semi-finals, they were facing one of the more clinical outfits in the circle. After going behind very early in the match, the KZN girls desperately hunted for an equaliser. They enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and dictated the tempo in their pursuit of a goal, but they couldn’t land a final punch. They won several penalty corners and all but one was closed down by Northerns.
“Our brief was to let them play, but let them play in front of us,” Mbekeni shared. “That’s why we went that deep and tried to compress the space. They are a good side. They have scored a lot of goals and we wanted to eliminate the 1-v-1 battles.”
Northerns’ leading goal scorer, Arista van Zyl, had her side on the front foot with a fourth-minute strike. The Garsfontein learner chased down a Coastal defender, forced an error and capitalised on the opportunity.
Coastal reacted well to the setback, launching foray after foray into the Northerns’ half. Jacinta Wedderburn’s side, however, had to chase the game for 34 of the 60 minutes of the contest.
“They have a strong team and keep the ball so well. We tried to not give away any penalty corners in defence because we know how good they are,” Northerns’ Daniella McCann said after the match. “We knew, from the beginning, there was going to be pressure. We knew they were going to come hard at us.”
McCann, who spoke highly of Northerns’ team culture, said the side’s players became cheerleaders for one another as they built of wall of defence to repel the KZN team’s attacks. McCann, a forward, found herself taking on a greater defensive role than usual, working hard to make life tough for the Coastal defenders as they tried to exit.
The Northerns’ cohort has been a team that few have given a second glance. Luane Janssen, their goalkeeper, said most of the girls have played together since they were Grade 6 learners, but they had never finished higher than eighth at a provincial tournament.
“We have never won anything and so our main goal was to make the semifinals,” the Waterkloof learner admitted. “That would have been a big win for us.”
However, after winning in the semis, they are now daring to dream bigger, and they hope to realise their dream of being crowned the champions by adhering to good defence principles.
“Throughout the week there have been quarters where we were under a lot of pressure, and I think we have learned from that. The girls are not robots. They are not going to automatically be calm under pressure, but I think they have become better at handling pressure with each passing game,” Mbekeni said.
After withstanding the pressure exerted by KZN Coastal during regulation time, Northerns backed themselves to handle the pressure of the shootout. When the KZN team missed its first shootout opportunity, Northerns’ belief swelled. They converted their first chance, but went on to miss their next three, while Coastal scored two of their next three.
Janssen needed to prevent Coastal’s Caprice Bengston from converting her eight-second penalty to keep Northerns’ dreams alive. She stopped her. Then, Andrea Groenewald needed to beat Ella Carstens to keep the Gauteng side’s quest alive. She also succeeded, and that sent the teams to sudden death. That is when Daniella McCann stepped up.
“You don’t go into a shootout alone; you go with the rest of the team behind you. We also have one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament, so I think that also helps us to stay calm under pressure,” McCann said. She converted her stroke.
After making three good saves, Janssen was required to make one more critical stop. Facing her was the talented Emily Macquet.
“A shootout is always stressful for everyone,” Janssen said. “It is stressful for me, the ‘keeper, and I also know that it is stressful for the striker against me. But knowing that my team backs me is also great for my confidence and it helps me to back my training. I train hard for moments like this,” she shared after stopping Macquet.
Northerns will go into the final as the underdogs, but that hasn’t held them back yet, and they have high hopes of upstaging Southern Gauteng A in the Jukskei Derby on Friday.
