JONATHAN COOK
in Bloemfontein

Western Province will play two-time defending champions Southern Gauteng in Saturday’s 4.30 pm final in the elite A Section of the SA Women’s Interprovincial Hockey Tournament at University of Free State in Bloemfontein.

WP beat Northern Gauteng Blues 3-1 in the first semi-final Friday after the scores were 1-1 at half-time.

Province deserved their win but it was not after a courageous defensive effort by Northerns, who also had their fair share of chances on attack, particularly in the first half.

Blues opened the scoring with a deflection by Chanelle van Niekerk and WP soon equalised through Vida Ryan. After the half-time whistle it was WP who swarmed onto the attack and despite Blues goalkeeper Inke van Wyk’s skill between the posts and some very good defensive tackling by the back four it was Kathleen Taylor who reacted well to drill a high-quality shot past Van Wyk.

A minute later WP made it 3-1 when Jade Mayne finished off superbly and the final booking for the Capetonians was assured.

The second semi-final between twice-defending champs Southern Gauteng and twice-beaten finalists KZN Coastal Raiders was a repeat of the 2009 and 2010 title matches.

Southerns won 2-1 with goals from Roxanne Turner Pholo and Pietie Coetzee after Raiders led 1-0 at half-time from Catherine Morris’s slap shot from a penalty corner.

Eastern Province and Free State were involved in a topsy-turvy encounter in the bottom four playoffs in the A Section which the PE girls eventually won 3-2 on penalty shootout after the scores were 2-2 at the end of extra-time.

They will meet North West in the fifth/sixth place playoff Saturday, while the match that will decide who gets relegated to next year’s lower-tier B Section is between Wits and the Free Staters.

In the B Section KZN Mynahs will play Amathole (Border) in the promotion match to next year’s A Section.

RESULTS

A Section - Semi-finals: Western Province 3 Northern Gauteng Blues 1; Southern Gauteng 2 KZN Coastal Raiders 1.

A Section - Bottom 4 playoffs: Eastern Province 2 Free State 2 (EP won penalty shootout 3-2); North West 1 Witwatersrand 1 (North West won penalty shootout 2-1).

B Section– Semi-finals: KZN Mynahs 1 Free State B  0; Amathole (Border) 5 Southern Cape 1.

B Section - Bottom 4 playoffs: KZN Inland 0 SA Country Districts B 0 (SACD B won on golden goal); SA Country Districts A 0 Mpumalanga 0 (SACD A won on golden goal).