The Olympic women’s hockey tournament ended on a high note for the weary South African team. They beat sixth-ranked Spain 4-3 after extra time in a play-off for last place in the final game of the tournament.
”I am going to have a beer now and spend some time on the beach with the girls,” said relieved coach Ros Howell.
Captain Sue Webber felt no different.
”I am stoked but happy with the result. This takes guts and courage to come back from our opening loss against a tough team like Spain,” she said.
For most of the game it looked as if neither of the leg weary teams wanted to be part of this play-off. The South African game was punctuated with bursts of great attacking play, interspersed with patches of indifferent defence.
Rocio Ybarra opened the scoring for the Spain with a deflection from a penalty corner in the 23 minute. Ace striker Pietie Coetzee brought things back on an even keel minutes later with one of her trademark drag flicks that rocketed into the net.
Late replacement Tsoanelo Pholo proved just why she was good enough to be brought along when she finished off a brilliant piece of individual flare from Kate Hector, just before the end of the first half.
The Spanish came out of the huddle all fired up and played their hearts out for 10 minutes before Jenny Wilson put them back on the defence with a fine shot from an oblique angle to which the ‘keeper got a stick but not enough as the ball trickled across the line 3-1.
Mar Fieto brought them back into contention in the 48th minute and then Ester Termens got a soft goal that rolled through the ‘keeper’s legs in the 59th minute to end the regulation time three apiece.
Fortunately the girls did not have to endure too much more of the heat in extra time, when Jenny Wilson got her second and the golden goal to end the game 4-3.
The South Africans ended the tournament in ninth place, one higher than in Sydney 2000.
”We only assembled this team less than three years ago, whereas some of the teams having been playing together for two Olympics. My prime focus now is to ensure that this does not happen again and that we retain this team and keep working on our experience.
”This learning curve has been tougher than we expected and it has taken us three years to take this one little step off the bottom of the log. Hopefully the next step up to the middle of the table will not take that long,” said Howell. — Sapa