SA TEAMS START WITH 6 WINS AT WORLDS

A hopeful SA U/23 and U/19 Underwater Hockey Team

The SA U/23 and U/19 Underwater Hockey Teams started the World Championships in Hobart, Australia with 6 wins and 1 loss on day one. The U/23 Men and Ladies each played one game and the U/19 Ladies played three games and SA was on the winning side in all of them. The U/19 Men played two matches, winning one and loosing the second.

Online article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sa-teams-start-6-wins-worlds-zandre-coetzee

The tournament started today (Friday, 14^th) and the finals are on Saturday 22 July. Games can be followed on http://tinyurl.com/hobartlive where they are live streamed as well as available afterwards. Full updated results are at https://sportsdesq.sportstg.com/portal/index.cfm?fuseaction=main&OrgID=10080

Previous articles about the SA Team at the Underwater Hockey World Championships are at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/family-matters-sa-underwater-hockey-zandre-coetzee and https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sa-underwater-hockey-players-going-world-hobart-zandre-coetzee

The SA U/19 Women who are the defending World Championships (from Spain 2015) opened the day for SA with a 5-0 win over USA. Captain Calista Pake scored 2 goals with Nicole Smit, Lise van Rhyn and Daniel Wentzel contributing the balance for SA.

The SA U/19 Men then beat Argentina 7-3 with Captain Ryan van Zyl scoring 2 goals and Austin Elferink, Joel Hanner, Simeon Jooste, Mathew Penning and Dirk van Reenen each scoring a goal.

Next up was the U/23 Ladies against Argentina. After a tough start they won 6-1. Captain Eleanor de Kock scored a goal and the team’s man of the match Zandrѐ Coetzee, scored 3 goals with Jordynne Elferink contributing the opening goal (a making it one each for the Elferink siblings) and Thea Rothman also contributing.

The U/19 Ladies then played their 2^nd match of the day against Canada, beating them 8-0. Chrizanne Smit, Helen van Rhyn and Daniel Wentzel each scored 2 goals with Nina Adams and Oliva Langston also making contributions. Helen made in the 2^nd sibling double of the day after sister Lise scored in the 1^st match.

Next on the roster for SA was the u/23 Men who won a very hard match against Argentina 3 – 1. after a very balanced battle throughout the match. Again it was the captain Elrich Engelbrecht (2011 U/19 gold medalist) scoring 2 with JP van Zyl scoring the 3^rd.

The U/19 men then played Great Britain and after conceding two early goals, they lost 3-1 with Khardan Ruocchio scoring the only goal for SA.

Last game of the day for the U/19 Women who play a double round robin and 3 games on some days was Great Britain and the ladies won 3-0, making for a hard but successful day in the pool for them. Goals where scored by Nicole Smit, Helen van Rhyn and “Spoetnik Gonsalez” Lise van Rhyn

Tomorrow the U/23 ladies are in for a very hard battle against New Zealand while the U/23 Men play Australia. The U/19 men play Great Britain and the U/19 Ladies play Columbia (who is always a force to be reckoned with) and also host Australia.

While it is only day one and the teams have a long way to go, we celebrate a successful day for South Africa on day 1 of the Underwater Hockey World Championships.

De Wet Coetzee (Parent)

Cell 072 024 9801

E-mail zandrewitblitz@gmail.com