Mpumalanga ladies hockey did not disappoint

Our provincial ladies hockey team manages to climb in their national rankings at this year's inter provincial tournament (IPT) that was held in Port Elizabeth.

August 29, 2013

1 minute read

Christelle Conradie puts pressure on a player from Kwa-Zulu Natal Inlands. Photo: Ian Wiese

NELSPRUIT – The windy city recently experienced the wrath of the Mpumalanga ladies hockey team when they ended fourth in the interprovincial tournament (IPT).

The team, consisting of 15 women, travelled to Port Elizabeth by train, enduring 22 hours on the Shosholoza Meyl to reach their destination.

Coach Tracy Flowers’ girls were fit, focused and fully prepared for the task at hand – five hockey games against distinguished opponents, in five days.

Day one the Eagles trumped the Mynahs of KwaZulu-Natal 2-1. “We had a bit of a slow start as we had to come back from trailing 1-0, but the ladies stepped up and managed to leave the pitch as victors,” said Flowers.

The 50km/h winds didn’t faze our province’s pride as they drew 4-all of goals galore against the South African Country Districts B side on day two. The tournament favourites, KwaZulu-Natal Inlands promised to be the toughest game of the week and even though the score was 7-2 in the opponents’ favour, Mpumalanga put up the fight of their lives in that 70 minutes. The promise of medals loomed for the team as they prepared to face Southern Gauteng’s Witsies in the semi-finals. In a game resembling tit for tat, our ladies were unlucky to lose to a very well-prepared and young Southern Gauteng team 2-1. All was not lost and the squad prepared for the game that would decide whether they would bring a bronze medal home or not. The final day’s task was simple, yet daunting – beat the home team, Eastern Cape. In a game filled with numerous missed shots at goal and wasted possession, the task proved to be too large for our ladies as they gracefully accepted the 3-1 defeat.

“We managed to climb two positions in the rankings and we truly did much better than anyone could have expected,” said captain Carey Clarke. “We are proud to say that most of the team and management decided to commit to a three-year plan, during which we will aim to strengthen our province’s hockey to the highest level it could be,” added vice-captain Christie Botha.