Reigning champions Western Province (WP) and co-favourites Southern Gauteng both won their opening games at the Spar Women’s Interprovincial Tournament being played at the Hartleyvale Astro in Cape Town on Monday.
WP showed their pedigree with a 3-1 win over Northerns, while Southerns were less convincing but still managed a 3-0 victory against KwaZulu-Natal.
In a somewhat scrappy affair, last year’s runners-up Southerns dominated against KwaZulu-Natal for most of the match. Veteran Lindsey Wright opened the Southerns’ account with a penalty corner in the 22nd minute.
With Wright rock solid at the back and captain and national player Marsha Marescia marshalling the midfield, the Natalians never really threatened the Southerns’ in-goal area. And the latter’s superior possession continued into the second half, resulting in their second goal when some great interplay between numerous players down the right culminated in a tap-in for Anika Fisher.
KwaZulu-Natal had their best chance to pull one back in the 62nd minute, but Kerry Gaze’s powerful strike flew over the bar.
Southerns sealed the victory in the 68th minute from a penalty corner, which Nita van Jaarsveld converted.
”For the first game we’ll take the three points,” said Southerns coach Adrian Carolan. ”We need to improve a lot, especially our attacking in the circle, which was poor.”
Ironically, KwaZulu-Natal coach Brendon Carolan, brother to Adrian, said that his team were also lacking in the offensive department. ”We maintained our defensive patterns but we created no attacking opportunities,” he said. ”But it was a big ask to play Southerns first up and we will have learnt from this.”
Marescia was happy with her team’s start. ”It was tough to prepare for the tournament with so many players away with the national team beforehand,” she said. ”But it is good win and we’ve been able to identify our weaknesses.”
With 13 players away on national duty over the past two weeks, WP’s preparations were far from ideal but they still look like the team to beat. Their game against Northerns was far more upbeat and both sides looked a lot sharper than the Southerns-KwaZulu-Natal encounter.
WP took an early lead in the third minute via a penalty corner struck by Leigh Boardman. They doubled their lead in the 34th minute after a slick move that started from Northerns’ 22 area and Ilse Davids was on hand to finish it off.
Northerns, however, came back strongly in the second half to score a cracker of a goal and possibly the goal of the day. A Northerns free hit was cracked in from outside the WP circle and Louisa Moore managed somehow to get a stick the ball. The resultant deflection gave goalkeeper Mariette Rix no chance.
WP showed their resilience and made it 3-1 in the 62nd minute with a field goal from Megan Robertson.
In the other Pool A game, Midlands defeated Eastern Province 2-1. Tuesday’s fixtures see Midlands playing Southerns, Northerns meeting Eastern Province and the hosts taking on KwaZulu-Natal. — Sapa