The South African Under-21 Women’s hockey team has bowed out of the Junior World Cup, after losing 5-nil to tournament favourites, the Netherlands, at Potchefstroom Friday afternoon.
The visitors have a remarkable record of scoring a whopping 43 goals without conceding a single goal in four matches. The Dutch will play against India in Sunday’s semi-final.
The Dutch started like a house on fire and it came as no surprise when the tournament’s top goal scorer Jip Dicke opened the scoring early on.
South Africa started slowly but picked up as the game progressed. Thati Zulu managed to win a penalty corner in the 4th minute, but the South Africans failed to capitalise on the chance.
The visitors doubled their lead at the end of the quarter when Dicke completed her brace on the rebound after SA keeper Mishka Ellis dropped the ball. The host nation almost pulled one back, but Bianca Wood missed a golden opportunity with only the keeper to beat.
Zulu, who was a menace for the opposition, won another penalty corner, but the opportunity was squandered yet again. SA missed another glorious chance when Zulu went through on goal but ballooned her shot high.
The Dutch scored the third goal in the third quarter when Noor Omrani converted from Dicke’s assist.
Luna Fokke added the fourth goal for the visitors from the penalty corner also in the third quarter. Fokke completed her brace in the last quarter, to hammer the final nail in SA’s coffin.
“We are very happy that we won this and we are on to the next round it was really nice to play against the host country we really like to play against them I’m just glad about the results. We are on to the next round,” says Player of the Match Rosa Fernig.
“The start was a bit doubtful from our side, but second half we were more effective. We scored some nice goals. Happy with the results and nice that we were tested by a really energetic team from South Africa,” says Netherlands coach Dave Smoleraans.
“That was a big thing for us, go out there give it a crack, give ourselves an opportunity and see how we get,” says Lenise Marais, South African coach.
SA will play against Korea in the play-off on Sunday and will be looking to secure their highest ever finish in the tournament. Their previous best was a sixth-place finish.
