Oranje maintains great run at home with a win over Eunice
Marichelle Crous and Estelle Marx each scored a brace to catapult C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje to a 5-1 win over Eunice High in their league match at Oranje on Tuesday evening.
“We turned defence into attack very quickly. We were able to convert counter-attacking opportunities into genuine goalscoring threats,” Morné Odendaal, the Oranje coach, told SuperSport Schools News.
The victory was Oranje’s second in four days. Odendaal’s charges recorded a 3-0 win over Affies Meisies in Pretoria last Friday, with Bobo Grobbelaar, Marlene du Plessis, and Lullu Oelschig on target in that clash.
Odendaal credited the victory over Affies to his charges’ ability to make connections, which helped them to control the momentum of the contest. They did the same against Eunice.
Oranje is unbeaten at home this season, and the win over Eunice was Oranje’s ninth consecutive victory on their Astro, affectionately known as Huis Hartseer.
Crous got the home side onto the scoreboard with two goals, six minutes apart, in the first chukka. For her first, she intercepted a pass in the Eunice half before driving into the circle, where she unleashed a brilliant strike for the opener after seven minutes.
She then positioned herself well to receive a pass on the edge of the box, before making another fruitful circle entry for the second goal with just over a minute left in the chukka.
When Marx found herself in acres of space in the Eunice circle, she didn’t waste the opportunity to add a third five-and-a-half minutes before halftime.
Determined to stay in the match, Eunice launched an attack from the pushback and exerted enough pressure to win a penalty corner. Claire Volschenk showed great awareness and pounced on a rebound to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Oranje, however, doused the visitors’ hopes of a comeback when they extended their lead to 4-1. The hosts combined for a well-worked move, taking only five passes from the Oranje baseline to Marx, who struck with just over two minutes left in the third chukka.
Xylia Choene put the game to bed when she drilled the ball into the back of the net from a tight angle on the right seven minutes before the end.
“A big reason for our win was the movement of the players off the ball,” Odendaal said. “The girls moved into good areas, created passing lanes, and gave the ball carrier quality options. This made the player on the ball look good because of the support and movement around her.”
Result
Oranje 5-1 Eunice
