The country’s top-ranked girls’ school hockey team, Hoër Meisieskool Oranje, won the annual Super12 tournament for a record-extending sixth time by beating their Bloemfontein and Free State rivals, Eunice Girls’ High, in the final.
The hosts, Oranje, didn’t get their campaign in Bloemfontein off to the best of starts when they fell short against Durban Girl’s College with a 4-2 defeat in their opening game on Friday. They did, however, return to their winning ways in their second match of the tournament, with a 3-1 win over Pearson (Gqeberha), before wrapping up proceedings on Friday with a 3-0 win over Collegiate (Gqeberha).
Eunice, in turn, were unbeaten on the opening day with a 2-1 win over Menlo Park (Pretoria), while they beat Rhenish (Stellenbosch) 2-0, and Beaulieu College (Johannesburg) 3-0.
On Saturday, Oranje continued their momentum with a 2-0 win over Paarl Gymnasium and 3-0 win against St Mary’s Waverley (Johannesburg) to advance to the play-offs. The second-ranked Eunice beat Herschel (Cape Town) 1-0 and played to a 0-0 draw against the third-ranked, Voortrekker from Bethlehem, to qualify for the knockout round.
In the semi-finals, Oranje put in a dominant performance to beat Herschel 4-0 and Eunice secured their spot in the final with a 2-1 win over Durban Girls’ College.
In the final, Eunice once again started very strong – as they did on Tuesday in the city league final – with an early goal by Bianca Rees-Gibbs, but it was ultimately the hosts that were too strong. Oranje won the final 3-1, thanks to a brace by Germarie Spershott, while Mia Prinsloo also hit the backboard.
Ané Janse van Vuuren, the captain of Oranje, was named as the top player of the tournament, while Naudene Prinsloo (Oranje) was named as the best defender of the tournament. Taheera Augousti (Eunice) received the accolade as the best midfielder of the tournament. Jana van Antwerpen of Paarl Gymnasium was named as the best forward of the tournament, while Nina Vermaak (Herschel) was named as the goalkeeper of the tournament.
The former Proteas senior women’s coach, Sheldon Roston – who is the Director of Sport at the North-West University – was the adjudicator for the individual accolades.
Winning the final was the perfect send-off for Morné Odendaal, who is en route to the USA to take up a coaching position at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is believed that Janse van Vuuren, as well as, Spershott, Tuane van der Westhuizen and Kayla Oliver (all Oranje), and Augousti of Eunice, will be joining Odendaal at the ivy league school, once their schooling in Bloemfontein is complete.
While losing to Oranje in two finals is a bitter pill to swallow for Eunice, they can be proud of their stellar season and they played a massive role in the health of the Free State’s school hockey – which is at its healthiest level in a long time indeed. – MORGAN PIEK
