MAD Maroons maintained their unbeaten streak in the Bank Windhoek Indoor Hockey series as both their men and women’s Premier League sides stretched their leads.
Their men beat Saints 6-2 for another bonus point win, but their women’s side was pushed all the way before beating Saints 4-3.
Maroons’ second teams, Windhoek Old Boys, also had winning weekends as the men beat Wanderers 8-2, while WOB women beat Wanderers 3-2.
In the Men’s Premier League, Maroons beat Saints 6-2 after the teams were tied 2-2 at halftime.
In the second half, Saints suffered a setback when their goalie Handre Bezuidenhout was green carded for a professional foul and by the time he came back on, they had conceded three goals and the contest was over.
For Mad Maroons, Riaan Kruger and Bucko Bartlett both scored hattricks, while Damien Schutz and Tristan Fallis scored for Saints.
WOB also had a comfortable victory, beating Wanderers 8-2 after leading 3-1 at halftime.
Hanro Strydom and Dylan Finch each scored hattricks for WOB while Kayde Bartlett and Pieter le Roux scored one each. Stefan du Preez and Freddie Hanekom scored for Wanderers.
Maroons are now well out in front on the log standings on 19 points from four matches, followed by Unam, DTS and Saints, who are all on 8 points.
Windhoek Old Boys are on 3 and Wanderers on 0 points.
In the Women’s Premier League, Mad Maroons had to overcome a late comeback to beat Saints 4-3.
Saints took the lead through a penalty corner in the third minute, but two goals by Jeani Holtz and one by Dunelle van Taak put the Maroons 3-1 ahead at halftime.
Van Taak stretched Maroons’ lead to 4-1 early in the second half with a penalty corner goal, but Saints fought back with two goals by Rachel Finch to make the final score 4-3.
In another Women’s Premier League match, WOB beat Wanderers 3-2 after leading 2-1 at halftime.
Dure Boshoff scored a brace and Jivanka Kruger one goal for Maroons, while Maike Prickett and Juanne Louw scored for Wanderers.
Maroons now lead the log on 15 points from five matches, while Unam are second on 7 from 3 matches and Saints third (6 from 4 matches).
They are followed by WOB (5 from 3 matches), DTS (2 from 4 matches) and Wanderers (1 from 3 matches).
National u21 squads hard at work
Namibia’s national men and women’s u21 squad are also hard at work preparing for the Africa u21 Hockey Championships which Namibia will host from 18 to 28 March.
According to women’s coach Shayne Cormack the squads are well prepared and hoping to give a good account of themselves.
“We have been preparing since September last year – we had a training camp in January and the training has been intense the last three months. We are looking forward to the tournament and I give our side a good chance of qualifying for the World Championships,” she said.
The top women’s side will qualify for the u21 World Championships in Chile in November 2016, while the top men’s side will qualify for the u21 World Championships in India in December. The second-placed men and women’s teams can possibly also qualify for the u21 World Championships although it has not been confirmed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) yet.
According to Cormack, Ghana has withdrawn from the championships without giving a reason, but the respective men and women’s competitions will still field strong sides.
In the men’s competition, Namibia will compete in Group A along with Egypt, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya, while Group B will consist of South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
In the women’s competition Namibia will compete in Group A along with Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia, while South Africa, Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe will make up Group B.
Both squads include young players from u16 and u18 level through to u21 level.
Namibia u21 Men:
Willie Serfontein, Baggio Karigub, Ernest Jacobs, Christiaan Loedolff, Nico Jacobs, Nelson Ekhandjo, Wayne Jeffrey, Wiehan Strydom, Stephan Calitz, Tyler Adkins, SP Grobbelaar, Percy Barthram, Dylan Finch, Michael Zapke, Dakota Hansen and Franco Lotter.
The non travelling reserves are Liam Hermanus, Travis Mays, Reinhardt van Zyl and Kuveri Mukondo.
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