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UJ sink Kovsies in Varsity Hockey final─── 08:44 Tue, 19 May 2015
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The University of Johannesburg woman’s hockey team were crowned the new Varsity Hockey Champions last night in Bloemfontein after beating the impressive University of the Free State Kovsies.
The UJ girls scored three goals in the second half to beat Kovsies 3-0 at a packed Varsity Astro at the UFS campus.
Kovsies nearly took the early lead through a short corner, however Izelle Lategan’s effort hit the post to deny the home side.
UJ came out much stronger in the second stanza and it wasn’t long before Georgina Crisp opened the scoring for the visitors.
Lilian du Plessis doubled the lead via a drag flick from at short corner, before captain Kaila Flemming drove home the winner minutes from time.
Flemming told OFM Sport that they made better use of their opportunities on offer.
“It was hard to come out here after suffering a 5-1 defeat to them, so to come out here was a mind shift and attitude shift to bring out the best in us,” Flemming said about the teams focus.
“We just used our chances so we knew we were only going to get a limited amount so we had to make the best of time,” Flemming added.
Kovsies captain Liné Malan in her turn told OFM Sport that the loss was disappointing but the team has grown and gelled well during the tournament.
“It is disappointing, but that’s how sport goes. We need to stay strong, we have USSA ahead of us so we need to keep going,” said Malan.
“We have grown tremendously, not only on the field but off the field as well, we’ve been playing brilliant hockey it’s just a pity we couldn’t finish it off now in the final,” the captain added.
The win means the UJ now hold both the woman's and men's titles after the men won their title last year. As it stands, the women's hockey will only be played in 2017 again, with the men competing next year.
The two teams' could very well lock-horns during the USSA championships.
The 2015 USSA National Institutional Hockey Championship takes place at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg from 29 June to 3 July.
Morgan Piek / OFM News