Two Beaulieu teams took part in fiercely contested finals in the Southern Gauteng Indoor Hockey League finals.
Beaulieu Hockey Academy (BHA) Mzansi City girls played against an experienced Crusaders A side with national players such as Lilian du Plessis on the evening of 1 March.
The first ‘chukka’ started with incredible defence, with attempts at goals just out of reach for both teams after missing a penalty corner each. The next 10 minutes saw BHA’s Noli Moabi and Du Plessis each scoring a goal for their side a few seconds after each other.
A minute later and Crusaders took the lead thanks to a field goal by Lisa Hawker. Not long after, a penalty corner was awarded to the Crusaders and Du Plessis extended the lead to 3–1. Two minutes before the end of the second chukka, Moabi pulled one back with an assist from teammate Cloé de Souza.
Two minutes into the third chukka, De Souza levelled the scoreboard at 3–3.
Five minutes later, Crusaders’ Malikah Hamza scored after an assist from Du Plessis. In the final 10 minutes, De Souza converted two penalty corners to win the match 5–4 for BHA.
Crusaders coach Kyle Marks felt there were questionable umpiring decisions in the match and said his team had played well throughout the league.
Robyn Johnson and Bridget Kee who coached BHA were proud of how their girls played against an experienced side.
“We were losing in the majority of the game but we never gave up. The score went back and forth a lot,” Johnson said.
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