Namibia nails South Africa

THE Namibian inline hockey team beat South Africa 8-3 at the IIHF World Championships on Tuesday.

The Namibia lines started strong and were aggressively to the puck, almost immediately pushing South Africa into a defending role that set the tone for the remainder of the game. After an intense opening five minutes, Namibia’s Basti Faber passed the puck to Oliver Lohmeier in the slot, who in turn, put it into the net for the game’s first goal.Two minutes later, Michael Ellinger passed to Basti Faber and again the puck went flying into the net.South Africa closed the scoring during the first quarter at the 9:31 mark, bringing the South Africans back to within one goal at a score of 2-1.At 16:49, Michael Ellinger passed to Riyaan Eli, who scored the first goal of the second quarter.Two more Namibia goals quickly followed as Oliver Lohmeir, assisted by Basti Faber, netted the fourth goal, and an unassisted goal by Vincent van Biljon increased the Namibia lead to 5-1.Namibia and South Africa traded one more goal each during the second quarter, with Namibia’s Faber making another unassisted goal, bringing the score to 6-2 at the half.Faber scored his third goal of the game one minute 12 seconds into the third quarter.Team South Africa was continually pushed into a defending role, as they were heavily penalised throughout the game, frequently forcing the team to play below strength as players set out time in the penalty box.In the final quarter Zaid Ely added his goal at 38 minutes 13 seconds.Team South Africa scored almost one minute later.The final score of 8-3 was Team Namibia’s best effort thus far and gives Team Namibia a glimmer of hope to still qualify for the World Championships in 2008 in Austria.Namibia had a rest day yesterday and will play against Australia or New Zealand today.After an intense opening five minutes, Namibia’s Basti Faber passed the puck to Oliver Lohmeier in the slot, who in turn, put it into the net for the game’s first goal.Two minutes later, Michael Ellinger passed to Basti Faber and again the puck went flying into the net.South Africa closed the scoring during the first quarter at the 9:31 mark, bringing the South Africans back to within one goal at a score of 2-1.At 16:49, Michael Ellinger passed to Riyaan Eli, who scored the first goal of the second quarter.Two more Namibia goals quickly followed as Oliver Lohmeir, assisted by Basti Faber, netted the fourth goal, and an unassisted goal by Vincent van Biljon increased the Namibia lead to 5-1.Namibia and South Africa traded one more goal each during the second quarter, with Namibia’s Faber making another unassisted goal, bringing the score to 6-2 at the half.Faber scored his third goal of the game one minute 12 seconds into the third quarter.Team South Africa was continually pushed into a defending role, as they were heavily penalised throughout the game, frequently forcing the team to play below strength as players set out time in the penalty box.In the final quarter Zaid Ely added his goal at 38 minutes 13 seconds.Team South Africa scored almost one minute later.The final score of 8-3 was Team Namibia’s best effort thus far and gives Team Namibia a glimmer of hope to still qualify for the World Championships in 2008 in Austria.Namibia had a rest day yesterday and will play against Australia or New Zealand today.