Tuks hockey team on their way to Varsity Hockey semi’s
Tuks’ hockey team seems on the way to secure a semi-final place in this year's Varsity Cup tournament after three good wins in their first four games.
Tuks women’s hockey team kicked off this year’s Varsity Hockey tournament with three good wins and a narrow defeat against their archenemy, Pukke of Potchefstroom.
The Tuks team faced the Kovsies from Bloemfontein in their first game of the tournament last week.
After a great defensive first-half display by Kovsies, Tuks broke loose to obliterate the Bloem side 6-0 in their dual at Maties Astro on Friday afternoon.
Tuks struggled to break through the Kovsies defence, but just before half time Catherine Morris finally made a breakthrough when she scored the first goal of the game.
The girls from Pretoria kept attacking and the goals came with regularity to secure a fairly easy victory.
* Newcomers, UKZN, got a proper hiding on Saturday when Tuks blew them off the park with a massive 15-0 victory.
Tuks were quick out of the blocks when Catherine Morris scored a field goal in the seventh minute to open their account for the day. Two more field goals by Claire Gibbings and Mabongi Nyalungu for Tuks before the half time break meant they held a strong 6-0 lead midway through the encounter.
It was more of the same for Tuks in the second half and they scored another nine goals to seal the 15-0 hammering.
* On Sunday afternoon Tuks conceded their first goal of the tournament and were unable to reply as Pukke beat them 1-0 in Stellenbosch.
Tuks looked to stamp their authority by scoring a goal in the early stages of the first chukka, but Pukke’s defence was perfectly set up to prevent the Pretoria side to break through.
Both sides were unbeaten heading into the match, so it was a fixture that would end one team’s streak.
Looking to make a much needed goal-scoring break, Tuks found themselves spending most of the second chukka on Pukke’s side of the field. Pukke, on the other hand, had Charne Maddocks perfectly placed when it was their turn for an onslaught. Their onslaught that paid dividends when Captain Jessica de Bruyn scored a goal from a penalty corner in the 43rd minute of the game, giving the Potchefstroom outfit an advantage heading into the final chukka.
* On Monday night Tuks fought back against the Madibaz. They solidified their top four position by beating the Madibaz team 14-0 in Stellenbosch.
Looking to get back to winning ways, Tuks struggled to outmanoeuvre coach William Reubens’ Madibaz side in the first chukka, but coming back from the two-minute strategic break, they managed to bag three goals in five minutes.
Captain Natalie Esteves led the Pretoria side by scoring two penalty corner goals not long after Chane Hill opened the scoring from open play.
Tuks looked ever so composed by approaching the second half the same way they ended the first.
The third chukka remained goalless, but taking advantage of the Powerplay, Tuks added two more points from a penalty corner at the start of the final chukka, leaving the score at 9-0 in favour of Tuks.
Anel Luus and Chane Hill, in retrospect, clearly wanted more when they scored three goals between themselves when the Port Elizabeth outfit showed early signs fatigue before the final whistle.
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