MICHAEL VLISMAS, Pretoria | Wednesday 8.45am.
A HAT-trick from Alison Dare helped Southern Gauteng to a comfortable 7-0 victory over Eastern Province on the first day of the women’s hockey inter-provincial tournament at the Technikon Pretoria on Tuesday night.
The defending champions took their first step towards achieving a provincial double following the men’s team victory at their inter-provincial a week ago.
After a reserved start from the National Hockey League champions, Dare’s first field goal midway through the first half gave them the momentum they needed to establish a 3-0 lead at half-time.
Dare completed her hat-trick in a second half where the favourites totally outplayed their Pool A opponents.
In the day’s other Pool A game, hosts Northerns were beaten 2-0 by KwaZulu-Natal despite dominating for most of the first half.
KwaZulu-Natal were not as convincing as the scoreline suggests, but their ability to finish was what seperated the two teams.
A KwaZulu-Natal goal by Candice Forward seconds before halftime did enough to break Northerns’ spirit, and Bronwyn Ross added the second in the final seven minutes.
In Pool B, Western Province claimed a comfortable 3-0 victory over Natal Midlands.
But Province could easily have won this game by a greater margin had they fully capitalised on their plethora of goalscoring opportunities. — MWP
Scores:
Pool A – KwaZulu-Natal 2 (Candice Forward, Bronwyn Ross) Northerns 0; Southern Gauteng 7 (Alison Dare (3), Karen Roberts, Pietie Coetzee (2), Sharon Cormack) Eastern Province 0
Pool B – Western Province 3 (Anli Kotze, Linda van Breda, Nicola Kirby) Natal Midlands 0; North West 2 (Jackie Perreira (2)) Free State 1 (Elzanne Benade).