Southerns A, KZN Coastal A dominate on day one of SASHOC National Week
Hannah Smyth scored three goals across two games to lead the Southern Gauteng u18A girls’ team to the top of Pool A after Sunday’s action at the SASHOC National Week in Bloemfontein.
KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A are at the summit of Pool B after registering a win in their first match of the tournament.
The interprovincial tournament runs from 16 to 21 June.
Don’t miss a moment. Catch the action live on SuperSport Schools
Smyth grabbed a brace in Southern Gauteng A’s opener against Border A. The 17-year-old opened the scoring for the Natasha Le Roux-coached outfit in the second chukka, Crucially, that goal helped to settle the nerves of the highveld side, which had looked shaky in the opening quarter.
Emily Weaver followed Smyth’s goal with one of her own 10 minutes later, and it was after that strike that the Hannah Quinton-captained outfit settled in and dictated the pace of the contest.
Smyth completed her brace in the 55th minute. Her strike came between additional field goals from Reabitswe Phume and Amber Fairon, who scored in the 52nd and 59th minute respectively.
“We started slowly but managed to create some opportunities a little bit later in the match. It’s nice to have a win in the first match, but it’s still day one and we have a lot to work on, including good decision making,” Le Roux told SuperSport Schools Plus after the game.
Le Roux’s charges were a changed outfit when they took to the Astro for a second time later in the day. Knowing they couldn’t afford to make mistakes against an in-form Northern Gauteng A side, Southerns didn’t put a foot wrong against their neighbours from across the Jukskei River.
Northern Gauteng A entered the tie confident after a convincing 5-0 win over Western Province A in the first match of the day.
They took their time to get going against the girls from the Cape. However, once they found their groove, they proved to be an unstoppable force.
Sinoxolo Mbekeni‘s squad had prepared for everything but the weather. They played against the Northerns u16 A boys’ team and the Tuks team before making their way to Bloemfontein. They did not win either match, but they gleaned valuable lessons from their defeats.
Northern Gauteng A’s victory was built on an outstanding hat-trick from Arista Van Zyl, the first of the tournament. Southern Gauteng A, though, demonstrated their defensive strength by keeping the menacing 17-year-old quiet for most of the contest.
Reabitswe Phume found the back of the net in the 13th minute to put Le Roux’s side into the lead. Emily Weaver doubled their advantage in the 36th minute and Smyth capped off a polished performance with a third goal eight minutes from time.
KZN Coastal A recovered from an early slip that left them 0-1 down to claim a 3-1 win over Eastern Province A.
Tiarra Finnis beat Ella Carstens in the Coastal’s goal 15 minutes into the tie and Geowynne Gamiet’s charges held onto the lead for 11 minutes while dictating play. They had their tails up and set about finding a second goal.
However, with five minutes to go before halftime, Jacinta Wedderburn’s girls sprang to life, with Ruby Kraus striking for KwaZulu-Natalians .
“In our half time chat, we spoke of the need for us to execute the small and simple things and the defensive principles that were really lacking to allow that kind of goal to go through. When we returned for the third chukka, we went back to basics, moved through our structures and just got the girls to work a little bit harder,” she explained.
That talk resulted in a more polished performance, which led to goals from their captain Emily Macquet and Georgia Pollock in the 37th and 41st minutes respectively.
While pleased with the victory, Wedderburn used the tie as an opportunity to have a good look at her side. “We came into this match not knowing what to expect. So, now we will go back and go through the video footage and chat about the areas we need to improve on,” she said.
The victory will give her side a boost of confidence ahead of Monday’s schedule, which has them playing twice. They open the day’s proceedings against Northern Free State before locking horns with Boland A in the late afternoon.
RESULTS
Northern Gauteng A 5-0 Western Province A
Southern Gauteng A 5-0 Border A
Western Province B 2-3 Southern Free State A
Eastern Province A 1-3 KZN Coastal
Northern Free State 0-0 Boland
Southern Gauteng B 0-0 KZN Inland
Southern Free State A 3-0 Border A
Southern Gauteng A 3-0 Northern Gauteng A
Day 2 Fixtures
08:30 – KZN Coastal A vs Northern Free State
09:55 – Southern Gauteng B vs Boland A
11:20 – KZN Inland A vs Eastern Province A
12:45 – Western Province A vs Southern Gauteng A
14:10 – Northern Gauteng A vs Southern Free State A
15:35 – Border A vs Western Province B
16:25 – Boland A vs KZN Coastal A
17:00 – Northern Free State vs KZN Inland A
