Africa-Press – Namibia. SAINTS returned to the summit of Namibian hockey when they were crowned the Men and Women’s Premier League champions when the Bank Windhoek Field Hockey League concluded over the weekend.
Saints’ men’s team regained the title they had conceded to Windhoek Old Boys (WOB) last season to win their third title in four years, while their women’s team won the title for the fourth year in a row.
Both teams have already won the titles before the weekend, but signed off in style with the men beating Wanderers 11-0 on Saturday night. Owen Hatton opened the scoring with a short corner goal after six minutes, and further goals were scored by Michael Kotze and Christiaan du Raan, which put them 3-0 ahead by the end of the first quarter.
With Saints dominating possession the goals kept coming as they went 6-0 up by half-time, and 9-0 by the third quarter, before completing an emphatic 11-0 victory.
Hatton went on to score four goals in total, while Kotze scored three, Darren Enslin two, and Du Raan and Dakota Hansen one each. That victory capped a great season during which they remained unbeaten, winning all six their matches, while scoring 41 goals and conceding only three.
Windhoek Old Boys Maroons finished second on 18 points, after winning both their matches over the weekend. On Friday they came from behind to beat DTS 2-1. After a goalless first half, DTS took the lead through David Britz, but Dylan Finch equalised for the Maroons before their veteran striker, Siyabonga Martins, scored the winner from a short corner.
On Saturday though the Maroons turned on the style to beat their youthful Windhoek Old Boys Bullets team 12-3. Martins, Ernest Jacobs, and Dewald le Grange each scored a hat-trick, while Jandre Smit, Sean McCullough, and Rory Hammond each scored one goal.
Rudi Prinsloo, Immanuel Kenaruzo, and Dirk Basson scored for the Bullets. Saints’ women’s team also finished off in style with an emphatic 10-2 victory against WOB on Friday night.
Tara Myburgh scored a hat-trick, Gina Olles and Sunelle Ludwig scored two goals each, and Sascha Brinkmann, Hayley Schickerling and Danja Meyer one goal each, while Armin van Staden scored both Old Boys’ goals.
That victory saw them completing an unbeaten campaign to finish on 21 points after five victories and one draw, well ahead of second-placed DTS, which finished on 15 points. DTS completed their campaign with two victories after beating School of Excellence (SoE) 4-0 on Friday, and WOB 4-2 on Saturday.
Against SoE, Melissa Gilllies scored two goals, and Caitlin Gillies and Eline Sieben one each, while Kerrin Gillies scored two goals against Old Boys, and Caitlin Gillies and Celine Morkel one each, while Kaela Schimming and Jahntwa Kruger replied for WOB.
Meanwhile, West Coast Wolves won the Men’s First Division after winning four of their five matches to top the log on 15 points. Masters Men came second on 13, and DTS third on 10 points.
On Friday, DTS beat SoE 3-1, through two goals by Rian Kruger, and one by Darryn Roberts, while Rivaldo van Wyk replied for SoE. On Saturday, Saints beat Wanderers 3-1, through goals by Abraham Graham, Ludwig van Rooyen and Mathew Lassen, while Herschelle van Schalkwyk replied for Wanderers.
Wanderers, meanwhile, won the Women’s First Division after winning three of their four matches to finish on 11 points, with Saints finishing second, two points behind.
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