Beaulieu Hockey Acadamy impress in Presidents Cup

RANDBURG – Beaulieu teams gave their all in the inaugural Presidents Cup, but the women narrowly missed out on a finals spot.

March 25, 2020

Khomotso Makgabutlane 2 minutes read

The Beaulieu premier side narrowly lost to In Touch to get gold in the 3/4 place play-off. Photo: Khomotso Makgabutlane

The first Presidents Cup hockey tournament was hosted on a hot afternoon with 15 teams taking part as the Southern Gauteng Hockey Association league is also set to get underway.

Beaulieu Hockey Academy (BHA) women’s A side were placed in Pool A alongside In Touch, Pirates Hockey Club and Wanderers Hockey Club on 15 March. The men’s sides were in Pool B with Morningside Country Club (MCC) A and Wanderers B.

Jody Isaccas of the Beaulieu women’s team lightly pops the ball of Lenize Oeschger’s stick. *Photo: Khomotso Makgabutlane*

Games were scheduled to 15-minute halves, and three minutes for half-time. The men started the tournament with an early morning game against Wanderers. After a very close match, BHA lost narrowly to Wanderers, only conceding one goal.

Jody Isaacs of Beaulieu runs forward with the ball in the team’s final pool game in the Presidents Cup. *Photo: Khomotso Makgabutlane*

Their next and final match was against MCC A at the bottom field. MCC had taken an early lead thanks to Ryan Petschel’s field goal. BHA quickly found themselves two goals down after MCC’s Darren Murphy scored a penalty stroke. However, two quick goals by BHA’s Winchester Scott brought BHA back in the game.

Sasha Dikotla of Beaulieu takes control of the ball. *Photo: Khomotso Makgabutlane*

BHA could not score another goal and ended level with MCC. While second place was tied between the two teams, MCC went through due to scoring more goals. Coach Jesse Salo was disappointed at the news. “We had chances to score again in the MCC game and that’s what cost us. It sucks but it is what it is,” he said.

Their female counterparts had a much better showing throughout the day, given that six players were representing their province at the indoor Interprovincial Tournament in Durban.

BHA managed to end the match with a win after goals from Zeena Martin and Sasha Dikotla came in the second half with one goal to Pirates.

Into their next match against In Touch, Sadie van Niekerk gave BHA an early lead with a deflected shot of the ball. BHA had chances to extend their lead, but to no avail. With just under five minutes left in the match, Siobhan McKane of In Touch equalised thanks to a conceded penalty corner. The match ended in a stalemate.

The final pool fixture for BHA was against Wanderers. Three minutes in saw BHA take another early lead thanks to Lamya Patel. Going into the second half, another goal by BHA’s Jody Issacs saw a lead extension and defensive play until the end of the match.

Since they drew one game and won two, BHA found themselves top of their pool and into the semi-finals against Wanderers C. A penalty corner goal scored by Wanderers’ Oratilwe Selamolela saw her side take a 1–0 lead.

BHA had an equalising goal disallowed since the ball was too high. Wanderers advanced to the final whereas a disappointed BHA side were to play for bronze against In Touch.