Maties captain Erin Hunter believes their loss to UFS-Kovsies in the semifinal of Varsity Hockey is no train smash and that her side are merely in a building phase.
The Stellenbosch side, who were also defending champions after their victory in 2013, put up a brave fight before losing 3-1 to the Bloem ladies in a tense match in Johannesburg
“As we are sports people any loss is a disappointment, but we are in a building phase at Maties,” Hunter told varsitysportssa.com.
“We reached our peak last year and this loss is not the end of the world.”
Hunter said that there was a reversal of roles between themselves and Kovsies, with the Bloem side reaping the rewards after being together for a few years.
“While we are in our building phase, Kovsies have reached their peak as they have been building for the past four years. Their team this year is basically the same they had at the last Varsity Hockey tournament.
“It was expected that they would reach their peak at some point and this year they just happened to do so and that is why they are so dominant,” she said.
The Maties’ captain, who has a goal of playing in the Olympic Games one day, feels that her side was inconsistent in this year’s tournament and it is something they are going to need to work on before the next big tournament.
“In some games we were very good and then in other games we just dropped our standard and we could not match the opposition. Consistency would be the biggest thing we need to achieve,” she explained.
Hunter said the quality of hockey has definitely increased since the last tournament back in 2013 and felt that a number of teams could have made the final.
“The level of competition has increased quite a lot in a sense that there are five or so teams that could have vied equally for the winning spot. With every game you had to go in knowing that this game is going to be tough,” she said.
Hunter also believes the tournaments serves as a launch pad to grow the sport of hockey in South Africa.
“Just by switching on the television and seeing hockey being played is inspiring young kids to get involved. By getting players’ names out there to the population the youngsters become more invested in the players and then therefore become more invested in the sport,” Hunter said.
