THE Eastern Province women’s hockey team’s woes continued at East London’s Kat Leisure Park yesterday when they were whipped 5-0 by Western Province.

The defeat was their third consecutive loss in the A section section at the inter-provincial and now hold the dubious distinction of being the only team in their pool not to have scored a goal.

Western Province are unbeaten so far and have the look of champions about them after beating reigning champions Southerns 3-1 on Wednesday.

To their credit, Eastern Province held their opponents to a goalless second half after conceding five goals in the opening 35 minutes.

Four came from penalty corners struck home by Cindy Brown (2), Ilse Davids and Vida Ryan.

The other was an excellent field goal by Farah Fredericks.

Border, who are in the B section, had a bye yesterday and play Namibia today.

However, their closest rivals Free State will also play weaker opponents in Mpumalanga, so goal difference will play a crucial role in seeing who tops the log.

In an A Section humdinger also yesterday at Kat Leisure Park, Northerns did just enough to beat KwaZulu-Natal Coastals 2-1.

The win took Northerns to the top of Pool B after the two went into their clash level-pegging on points.

After a scoreless first half in which both teams played careless hockey, the game came alive, with Northerns breaking the deadlock one minute after the restart when Marlene Nortje converted a field goal..

Another six minutes later to Tarryn Moses, had Northerns 2-0 up before Coastals started their fight-back.

Time and again they came close to scoring, only to be denied by some terrific defence until they were awarded a penalty flick with 10 minutes remaining. Merel de Blaey stepped up to slot the ball home.

With only seconds remaining and the hooter having sounded, Coastals forced a penalty corner, but after an initial block by goalkeeper Sanani Mangisa – she was outstanding – Sammy Prost’s shot sailed wide.

Article By BRIAN McLEAN
Source: www.dispatch.co.za