Hawks win gold in Cape Town

Namibia’s U13 A Hawks team excelled to win the gold medal at the PSI Hockey Nationals in Cape Town on Monday.

The Hawks were in a class of their own as they went through the tournament unbeaten before beating the EP Vipers 9-2 in the final.

The Hawks won all eight their group matches, scoring 60 and conceding 19 goals in the process, to top the log on 40 points.

In the semifinals they crushed the Boland Foxes 9-1, before also easily winning the final against the Vipers to claim the gold medal.

Kiana Cormack was the star player, scoring more than 40 goals and won the Girls U13 A Player of the Tournament award, while Sonet Crous won the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award.

The Hawks’ coach Trevor Cormack said he was very proud of both teams.

“It was great. The Hawks were unbeaten in the whole tournament and they scored enough goals to get them bonus points in each game, so I think that’s probably a first at PSI,” he said.

“The little Eagles side are up and coming youngsters, they are actually an U12 team that we put in the U13 section, and they were the gold medallists at the U12 tournament in July. They played like stars and beat the Foxes 2-1 to win the bronze medal, so out of our two teams in the U13 A section, we won two medals,” he added.

Cormack, who is also the father of Kiana, was understandably proud of his daughter’s achievements.

“I’m very proud of Kiana. She was the top goalscorer, scoring more than 45 goals in the tournament, she was player of the series and she was an awesome captain. She led her team to victory and I’m very proud.”

Namibia’s B team, the Eagles, played in the same section and gave a fine account of themselves to reach the semifinals. They finished third on the log after winning five and losing three of their eight group matches.

In the semifinals they lost 10-3 against the Vipers, although they had earlier beaten the same opponents 3-1 during the group stages.

In the third place playoff the Eagles beat the Foxes 2-1 to claim the bronze medal.

In the Girls U13 B competition, the Namibian Eagles finished fourth in their pool to miss out on a place in the semifinals. They won three, drew one and lost two of their six pool matches.

In the Boys U14 A competition, the Namibian Hawks started off like a house on fire to top the log at the end of the group stage. They won seven of their eight matches to top the log on 33 points, with the pre-tournament favourites and eventual champions, the Barracudas second on 31 points.

The Hawks comfortably beat the Barracudas 4-1 in their pool match, while their only defeat was a 5-1 loss against the Cape Seals.

In the semifinals the Hawks once again faced the Seals and the Cape side once again prevailed to win the match 6-3.

In the third place play-off, the Hawks faved the Eastern Province Vipers, whom they had beaten 6-4 in their group match, but this time the Vipers won the match 6-4 to claim the bronze medal.

In the Boys U14 B competition, Namibia’s Eagles finished eighth after winning one and losing six of their group matches.

In the Boys U13 A competition, the Namibian Hawks finished sixth in their group after winning three and losing five of their matches.

More than 2 000 hockey players from South Africa and Namibia are competing in the PSI Nationals, which continues this week with the U16 and U18 competitions.