UFS-Kovsies’ star Nicole Walraven believes UJ will a different team in the Varsity Hockey final than the one they so comprehensively beat in Round Four in this year’s tournament.
The Bloem ladies won that game 5-1 in a one sided affair, but UJ have improved significantly since that outing and will be stiff opposition.
“It is going to be a different game, they have stepped up their game as well especially with Lilian du Plessis back in the striker position. She is going to make it a much tougher and much quicker game,” Walraven told varsitysportssa.com.
“I believe in our team and back my team enough to play our brand of hockey. It is going to be a team effort and not about individuals. If we can play as a team and play our brand then we will definitely pull through in the end.”
Kovsies got past defending champions the Maties in the semifinal in a tough match where they were kept on their toes for the full 60 minutes.
“It was a very tense match. Maties caught us off guard in the beginning, but we played our brand of hockey and we pulled through and we are very excited for the final, especially that it is here in Bloem. We are very excited to have our home crowd supporting us,” said Walraven.
The Maties game was an up and down affair for Walraven, who was both hero and villain after scoring a goal and receiving two yellow cards in the match.
“It was very frustrating getting carded and sitting on the bench for ten minutes, which was almost a whole quarter.
“I am not going to let it get me down. I am better than that and on Monday I will show them what I am made off and hopefully I don’t get another card,” she said.
After eight wins from eight, Kovsies will go into the final as favourites and Walraven says it all down to the hard work each player has put in this season and the fact that some of the team are national players as well.
“We worked really hard to prepare for Varsity Hockey and we know each other’s playing style. We know each other inside and out. We established a good brand of hockey and things have worked out and we are not going stop.
“The fact that there were four of us at that camp in January, I think it could have helped us lift our level of hockey as well. The exposure that we had made us step up our game and pull up our socks to have a higher standard of hockey,” she added.
This year’s Varsity Hockey tournament is midfielder’s second and she has seen first-hand how the level of competition has improved in the last two years.
“It is crazy. This is probably the best tournament I have played in. The standard that we have here compared to two years ago is so much higher and it is so nice to see how the standard has lifted and has improved so much.
“It gives people hope for South African hockey. Especially women’s hockey as well because we don’t really get that much coverage or support. Hopefully people will start noticing us now,” said Walraven.
