The UP-Tuks women’s hockey side head into the last round of the Varsity Sports Hockey Challenge hoping for a couple of results to go their way in order for them to slip into the final.
The girls from Pretoria have had a fairly solid campaign having won three, drawn two and lost one. It was that loss to Kovsies that seems to have been the difference between a final a bronze medal match.
UP-Tuks did manage to get themselves a draw in their last game against the much fancied NWU-Pukke but as goalkeeper Phumelela Madande mentions they were a little disappointed by the 1-1 result.
“We dominated a lot of the game. We managed to be on top for the most part of the three chukkas but we could not take advantage of that dominance.
“Ultimately it was a disappointing performance for us,” Mabande told varsitysportssa.com.
The women from the capital need a few of the teams to do them a favour in the last round of the tournament if they want to qualify for the inaugural Varsity Sports Hockey final.
“It is going to be very difficult for us to make the final and we need a favourable result from the Kovsies versus UJ game.
“UJ have been quite unpredictable this season and, for our sake, they can pull off a victory,” she added hopefully.
The bonus point system is something that is original to this tournament and it has played into some of the sides hands.
“We have not really benefited from the bonus point system because we are more used to other tournaments where you get your win and you take your three points.
“It was a bit frustrating for us but we have had to deal with it and hopefully next year we can adapt better,” Mbande mentioned.
Mdande has been very happy with the way in which the tournament has been run and has really enjoyed herself.
“The tournament has been very well run and we have been so spoilt everywhere we have been and especially this last week in Bloemfontein,” she said.
