It was a challenging week for NWU Hockey’s men’s and women’s teams in Bloemfontein during the annual University Sports South Africa (USSA) tournament from 2 to 6 July.
Hopes were high after both sides showcased their potential with fine performances in the lead up to the USSAs, but it was not to be as neither team could finish in the top three.The energetic young NWU women’s team took fourth-place overall after going down to their arch-nemesis, Maties, in the playoff stage.The men’s team, on the other hand, had a tournament to forget as injuries to key players and a couple of poor results saw them finish in eighth place in the A-section.
To make matters worse, the men’s team has been relegated to the B-division for next year’s USSA tournament, having been promoted to the top level in 2017.
The women’s team had more to shout about with wins against the NMMU Madibaz (2–0), UJ (2–0) and Kovsies 1–0. Even so, their coach, Shaun Hulley, was still disappointed that they could not reach their target of a top-three finish.
‘It was tough when we lost to Maties in the semi-finals because we really played some great hockey in the group stages. But the average age of our squad is 19 and I believe there is still a lot of growth that we can achieve with this team,’ he said.
Some of the standout players for the NWU women’s team were Charné Maddocks, Lerato Mahlangu and Kirsty Adams who scored a couple of crucial goals.
Results:
Women:
NWU 2–UJ 0
NWU 2–NMU 0
NWU 1–Kovsies 0
NWU 1–Maties 3
NWU 1–Kovsies 2.
Men:
NWU 1–Maties 1
NWU 1–Wits 3
NWU 1–UJ 2
NWU 1–NMU 3
NWU 0–Varsity College 1.
