DTS win double gold

DTS won both the men and women’s titles of the Wanderers Night League Field Hockey tournament that concluded at Wanderers on Friday night. 

In the men’s final DTS took the honours after beating Windhoek Old Boys 2-1 in a close contest, while DTS’ women beat Wanderers 3-2 to win the women’s title. 

It was a great triumph for DTS’ men after a poor indoor season that saw them finishing bottom of the log without a point. 

They were, however, considerably strengthened by the return of their students abroad, with the Britz brothers David and JP, the Van der Merwe brothers Cody and Josh, and the Schütz brothers, Damien and Julian all contributing to their success. 

In the semifinals on Thursday already, they played a major role, with JP Britz scoring two goals, and David Britz and Cody van der Merwe one each, as they beat Old Boys II 4-2 to book their place in the final. In terms of the tournament’s rules, Old Boys II, as a second division team, started with a two-goal advantage, but DTS soon hauled in the deficit and went on to win seal an impressive win.

Old Boys I booked their spot in the final after beating School of Excellence 4-1 in the other semifinal. Captain Ernest Jacobs scored two goals and Dian La Cock and Dylan Finch one each for Old Boys, while Issaskar Tjikuniva scored for SOE. 

The final was a close affair with Old Boys, the defending indoor champions, applying the early pressure, winning two short corners, but failing to capitalise. 

The momentum swung to DTS in the second quarter as they won an early short corner, but DJ Strauss pulled off a great save to deny JP Britz. 

DTS, however, soon won another short corner and although Strauss once again saved JP Britz’ shot, his brother David followed up to slam the loose ball into the net and put DTS 1-0 ahead. 

Old Boys struck back with Jacobs influental, and after Dylan Finch and Jack Fourie came close, Dian La Cock equalised, deflecting a Jacobs centre into the box. 

DTS, however, soon regained the lead when an Owen Hatton shot was saved, but Damien Schütz followed up to put the loose ball into the net to seal a hard-fought victory for DTS. 

DTS’ women, meanwhile, extended their dominance to the Wanderers Night League after they had earlier won the Indoor League for the third year in a row. 

They also started with a 2-0 deficit against Wanderers, as a second-ranked team, but soon made up the backlog. 

Jaime Gillies scored within a minute after steering home Kaela Schimming-Chase’s cross, while Carisma Hyman tied the score at 2-2 when she finished off a quick counterattack. 

DTS stepped up the pressure and Gillies scored her second, and the winning goal, from a short corner midway through the third quarter, when her shot was initially blocked by Britta Haensel, before trickling over the line.