Stars of future in top form
[caption id="attachment_40030" align="alignright" width="405"] GOLD MEDAL: The EP U14 girls hockey team are, from left: Back: Allayne Guest (coach), Chumisa Yona, Elmarie van Quickelberge, Tanitha Deyzel, Lara Cunningham (captain), Staci Edwards, Bronwyn van Wyngaart, Chere Jacobs (vice-captain), Alison Adams, Edith Molikoe, Nadine Junkin (manageress). Front: Caitlin Brooks, Jenny du Toit, Teagan Thompson, Caitlin van Goeverden, Bulelwa Vinjiwe, Henze Jaftha[/caption]
IF the results of both the EP under-14 girls' and boys' hockey teams is anything to go by, the future of the sport in this region is looking promising.
The girls side, led by Collegiate's Lara Cunningham, were crowned champions in their regional tournament which ended in George at the weekend while the boys, captained by St Andrew's player Peter Jarvis, won the silver medal in Stellenbosch last week.
The Eastern Province U14A girls competed at Outeniqua and York high schools' astros over four days. All in all, there were 16 teams representing Border, SWD, Western Province, Boland, Northern Cape, Free State, Eastern Province and Namibia.
The tournament was played in two pools, with teams in each pool facing off against one another. They then had cross-pool play-offs to determine final positions.
EP went through their pool games unbeaten, edging out Western Province South on goal difference after a thrilling 0-0 draw in their final pool game. That result saw them finish top of their pool to qualify for Sunday's final.
Here they met neighbours Border Coastal who had finished top of their pool after beating the fancied Southern Free State team to qualify for the final.
Border led at halftime but EP hit back soon after the restart with an equaliser. After both sides missed opportunities to win the match in regulation time, the result had to be determined by a penalty shoot-out in which EP came out on top by a 3-2 margin.
The EPA pool results were: beat Namibia 6-0, beat Boland Barlinka 3-0, beat SWD 3-0, beat WP North 2-0, beat SFS B 3-0, beat Border Inland 10-1, drew 0-0 with WP South.
The EP B team had a tournament with mixed results but still managed to finish a credible eighth to match their performance of last year.
At the Maties Astro, the U14A boys lost a tightly contested final 1-0 to Western Province Disas.
The team was made up of boys from Grey, Pearson, Woodridge, Kingswood and St Andrew's and they competed against the same provincial teams as the girls.
They won four of their five games on the way to the final including a 3-1 revenge win against Border A who beat EP in last year's U13 final.
In the semifinal they faced the Western Province Proteas and thrashed them 6-1 in a convincing performance.
Unfortunately, they could not carry that form through into the final which in the end could have gone either way.
Skipper Jarvis was the third highest goal-scorer in the tournament. The EP B team did well to finish seventh out of the 16 teams.
