• Sport

Sizzling hot action in NSSU hockey finals

All field hockey finals for the NSSU’s high schools leagues were concluded on Saturday at Windhoek Afrikaans Private School’s Affiespark in Pionierspark, with good sportsmanship and excellent play.

In the boys and girls’ first and second league finals, Etosha Secondary School and Windhoek High School (WHS) had one team each, St. Paul’s two, while hosts Windhoek Affies were represented by four teams.

In short, all the teams played brilliantly at times, but it was clear that the first girls team of St. Paul’s are in a class of their own.

The only finalist from outside the capital was Etosha. Whoever is in charge of the boys’ coaching must be complimented along with his team for the high standards and work ethic they displayed to win their title.

The Etosha boys from Tsumeb won the second league title by 2-0 against Affies. At halftime the score was still 0-0, but the boys from the north led by their captain, Hofeni Naamandike, gained the upper hand in the second half and scored two goals in the last quarter for victory.

The second league final was won 3-0 by the girls from St. Paul’s against Affies. At halftime the score was 1-0 in their favour. Affies fought back hard to limit St. Paul’s to two goals in the second half.

Affies’ only win in a final came against Windhoek High School when they beat WHS’s boys 3-0 for the first league title. Coach Sedtric Makati’s Affies, who also won this championship last year, already led 3-0 at halftime.

WHS nevertheless played well after the break, not only in defence, but also on attack.

The St. Paul’s girls started their first league final against WHS like a tornado and scored two lightning goals. The score was soon 3-0 in their favour. However, WHS scored an excellent goal to trail 3-1 at halftime.

The favourites added two more goals during the second half to win the first league title 5-1.

It was a satisfying triumph for St. Paul’s girls, who were upset by WHS in the 2022 final.

– tielman@republikein.com.na