UP-Tuks may have narrowly missed on reaching the 2015 Varsity Hockey final but the manner in which they played and carried themselves will be seen as a success on its own.
Marguerite “Kriekie” van Wyk was vital to their goal scoring prowess in the matches leading up to the semifinal but, as most tournaments go, she could not find her killer touch to help the Pretoria ladies advance to the big match.
“We are a bit disappointed that we never made it to the final as we wanted to win the event. It [the semifinal] came down to which team would make the most of their chances and UJ did just that. They had two scoring opportunities in the match which they took it and we were unable to convert ours.
“In saying that, we are still positive and the vibe in the team has not changed. We are such a tightly knit group which makes it easier for us to be there for each other and stand by each other no matter what the situation is.
“We know we are yet to play at our full potential but regardless of that, we still feel we had a successful tournament due to the manner in which we played the game and the type of hockey we produced,” she told varsitysportssa.com.
More commonly – and affectionately – known as Kriekie to her peers, she had nothing but good things to say about the event and found the powerplays to be an interesting, yet exciting, innovation to the game.
“There was such a great vibe at the event and we were treated really well by everyone which just felt amazing. Varsity Hockey has really created an amazing opportunity for us [hockey players] to showcase the sport and what it is all about.
“The one part of the matches I really enjoyed was the powerplays because it is something different and brings more excitement to an already exciting sport,” Kriekie added.
She believes the standard of the game has really improved which was evident in some very close matches and felt like there were no easy games as any team could win on the day.
