Oranje and Paarl Gim win under lights
C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje (Oranje) romped to a 2-0 win over Paarl Girls’ High School at Oranje on Thursday night. In another high-profile game played in Bloemfontein on Thursday evening, Paarl Gimnasium won by an identical scoreline against Eunice.
“Overall, it was a good game. Good brands of hockey were exemplified from both schools,” Gys van Schalkwyk, the Oranje coach, said after the encounter.
The teams were on an even keel for more than half of the encounter. Both started positively and traded blows, but neither could deliver a goal in the first half of the contest. Eventually, the hosts drew first blood over 40 minutes after the match had started.
Oranje maintained a high press on the opposition for most of the game and, from one of those instances, the hosts forced a turnover in the Paarl Girls’ High half. Van Schalkwyk’s charges raced towards the goal and a final pass found Kayla du Preez‘s stick and she fired a shot into the back of the net. Just over three minutes remained in the third chukka.
“We did really well in keeping the intensity of the game really high and kept them under pressure when we lost the ball. We also made good connections going forward,” Van Schalkwyk commented.
The sustained pressure on the Paarl Girls’ High circle paid dividends when the visitors were forced into an infringement that resulted in a penalty stroke. Nika Joubert made no mistake from the P-spot, doubling Oranje’s lead two minutes after their opening goal.
In the last 18 minutes, Oranje’s defence held firm as they repelled the visitors’ attempts at a comeback. It wasn’t just a case of sitting on their lead, however. Oranje continued to make forays into the Paarl Girls’ High half, seeking a third goal that would bury the visitors, but they were denied at each turn.
At Eunice, Imke Koegelenberg and Isabella Nel scored for Paarl Gim to propel them to a big win. The first goal was the outcome of four perfect passes that originated close to the halfway line. With pinpoint precision, the visitors made use of the spaces between the Eunice players on their way into the hosts’ D where Koegelenberg netted just over seven minutes into the second quarter.
“The girls really ran hard. We were solid on defence, and we moved the ball well. We created good opportunities. All the girls played their hearts out and that, for me, is Gim hockey,” Danelle van Zyl, the Paarl Gim coach, told Supersport Schools Plus.
For most of the third and fourth chukkas, Eunice controlled the tempo of the game. They strung passes together and set up camp in the visitors’ half. Unfortunately for coach Nika Coertzen and her charges, they were unable to find the final touch.
Paarl Gim absorbed the pressure before launching counters into Eunice’s half. They looked especially menacing when they made runs down the left-hand flank, and it was on one of those that they grabbed their second goal of the match with nine minutes left on the clock.
The contest continued to entertain in the remaining eight minutes, but the score remained the same.
RESULTS
Oranje 2-0 Paarl Girls’ High
Paarl Gimnasium 2-0 Eunice
