South Africa Hammers Zambia 19-Nil in Junior Hockey Africa Cup in Windhoek
Fresh after Uganda’s forfeit on Friday, the junior South Africa women’s hockey team recovered to secure an overwhelming 19-nil win over Zambia in match four of the Junior Africa Cup at the Davin Trustco Hockey Stadium in Windhoek, Namibia, on Saturday, 20 April, 2025.
Ane Janse van Vuuren opened scoring for South Africa when she quickly resumed play after a Kenya foul just outside the opposition circle, driving her possession into the D to score South Africa’s first goal from open play, with eight minutes remaining in the quarter.
Two minutes later, South Africa played the ball from a sideline restart, and quicker than the eye can see, they led by 2-0 after Paris-Gail Isaacs deflected the long ball past a defence in disarray into the goal.
South Africa won their first short-corner after 10 minutes of play, and the well-oiled machine seemed to convert when defender #4 Germarie Spershott drilled the ball into the backboard, before the umpire determined that the ball was lifted, and the goal disallowed.
South Africa maintained the possession and exerted a heavy pressure on the Zambian defence, and Amber Fairon hit a sweet reverse-stick shot to take a 3-nil advantage at the match’s first break.
Jenna Blaauw scored from open play within a minute of the second chukka’s start, capitalising when Zambia failed to clear the ball in their circle, and four minutes later, the SA U21 captain Caylin Maree got on the score sheet, another goal from open play taking the South Africans’ lead to 5-nil.
Olympian Ntsopa Mokoena, camping high on the opposition’s defence line, seized the chance to advance the score to 6-nil for South Africa, when she received a long play into the box, dodged the goalie’s attempt and ran the ball right into the goal box, four minutes before the half-time whistle.
Isaacs got onto the board again with goal from open play within a minute of the restart of play for a 7-nil SA lead right after half-time, when Zambia failed to reach their midfielders from a 16-yard clearance hit.
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A minute later Germarie Spershott was rewarded with her first goal from a short corner won by Mokoena, drilling the goal from the top of the D in an onslaught of unrelenting pressure from the South Africans for an 8-nil lead.
Another minute and another thrilling goal as #8 Amber Fairon reverse sweeps across the goal mouth for a slick deflection by skipper Maree for her second goal in the match, and a nine-nil lead for SA.
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Fed by Engelke, the short-corner specialist Spershott slotted another after a brief period of counter-play, rocketing the ball past the keeper and defenders into the bottom right hand corner for the SA’s 10th goal in the match.
Skipper Caylin Maree made no mistake at SA’s seventh short corner, the decision to switch up to Jenna Blaauw stopping at the second attacking position extending the match leaders’ clear advantage by another goal to 11 goals, with the final Chukka to go.
Angele Vogel added her finesse with a succesful drag-flick goal to convert yet another short-corner for the junior SA side’s 12th goal, after Jenna Blaauw stopped and positioned Spershott’s hit in for the first goal in the final chukka.
Dangerous play by Zambia in the circle in the seventh minute saw a switch-up for SA’s thirteenth goal when Angele Vogel deflected De la Rey’s push in to Spershott, who advanced right into the circle from the second attack spot, opening space to swing high and punch her shot through an confused defence into the far corner.
Next, Mokoena danced through the defence for SA’s fourteenth goal and a beautiful solo goal from open play after she intercepted a Zambian clearance effort, with seven minutes remaining in the match, darting left and right, before sweeping hard past the keeper’s left.
Teshawn de la Rey poached the easiest of goals hanging at the back of the goal when a Fairon shot deflected off the upright, for South Africa’s third goal in the space of a minute and a 15 goals lead, the exhaustion of the Zambian defence clear in their disarray.
The Zambia keeper suffered further indignity with five minutes to go, deflecting De la Rey’s cross into the goal, and South Africa now leading by 16 goals to nil.
Baylee Engelke added insult to injury when she displayed her quality in the circle, neatly side-stepped the defence to sink South Africa’s seventeenth with a perfect reverse back-stick from left across the face of the goal into the right hand corner.
The floodgates were open, the South Africans’ thirst not yet quenched and ready for another when Reabetswe Phume outwitted Zambia’s high defensive line to feed Tara Pakendorf at the top of the circle, who made no mistake to reverse-hit the ball into the backboards for an eighteenth goal with three minutes to play.
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Amber Fairon claimed the final honours when she forced a quick restart with Zambian players out of position in the final minute, gaining possession after a quick one-two to reverse-stick a goal from the circle’s right to bring the final South African junior side’s tally to 19 in the match, with no reply.
The tournament serves as the Africa qualifiers for the FIH Junior World Cup 2025, takes place in Namibia in April this year. The tournament initially scheduled for November, was postponed allowing teams more opportunity to participate.
The SA Women are competing alongside six other African nations for the top three finishes in the tournament to qualify for the FIH Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile, in December.
A late change in dates meant that the team had to be re-announced with a couple of changes, and includes Ntsopa Mokoena and Paris-Gail Isaacs, who were part of the SA Women’s Olympic Squad in Paris.
Jenna Blaauw, Caylin Maree, Germarie Spershott and Rea Phume all featured for South Africa in the previous event in Chile, and their experience will be pivotal as the team look to qualify for the expanded tournament in 2025.
Fixtures and Results of the Junior Hockey Africa Cup 2025
Friday 18 April 2025
1. South Africa 5–0 Uganda (Forfeit Result)
2. Zimbabwe 8–1 Zambia
3. Kenya 0–3 Namibia
Saturday 19 April 2025
4. South Africa 19–0 Zambia
5. 17:00 Zimbabwe vs Namibia
6. 19:00 Uganda vs Kenya
Sunday 20 April 2025
– Rest Day –
Monday 21 April 2025
7. 9:00 Uganda vs Zimbabwe
8. 15:00 Kenya vs South Africa
9. 19:00 Namibia vs Zambia
Tuesday 22 April 2025
10. 9:00 Zimbabwe vs South Africa
11. 15:00 Zambia vs Kenya
12. 19:00 Namibia vs Uganda
Wednesday 23 April 2025
– Rest Day –
Thursday 24 April 2025
13. 9:00 Zambia vs Uganda
14. 13:00 Kenya vs Zimbabwe
15 15:00 South Africa vs Namibia
Friday 25 April 2025
16. 12:15 3/4 Place Match – 3rd Ranked Women vs 4th Ranked Women
17. 16:45 FINAL – 1st Ranked Women vs 2nd Ranked Women
SA U21 Women Junior Africa Cup Squad 2025
Amber Fairon
Ane Janse van Vuuren
Angele Vogel
Baylee Engelke
Caylin Maree (C)
Germarie Spershott
Ifeoma Ndubueze
Jenna Blaauw
Jodie Blows
Lilly-Anne Theron
Nomsa Mzizi
Ntsopa Mokoena
Paige Salis
Paris-Gail Isaacs
Reabetswe Phume
Richele Norval
Tara Pakendorf
Teshawn de la Rey
Main Photo Caption: South Africa scored six goals in the first half of their first outing at the Junior Africa Cup 2025, and more than doubled their advantage to win the encounter by 19 goals to nil at the Davin Trustco Hockey Stadium in Windhoek, Namibia, on Saturday, 20 April, 2025. All Photos: Screenshot of the NBC Coverage on YouTube
Photo 2 Caption: #14 Baylee Engelke was a regular feature of the well-oiled short-corner routine by the junior South Africa hockey team, her push-ins from the restart resulting in several converted goals in the 19-nil thumping, adding a goal of her own from open play in the match’s closing moments.
Photo 3 Caption: The South Africans would have missed the match time in the middle after their forfeit win against Uganda on Friday, but were fresh and eager to pile on the misery against Zambia, who had lost 8-1 to Zimbabwe earlier in their opening tie on Friday.
Crédito: Link de origem