History made as Tuks claim two Varsity hockey titles within hours

football07 October 2022 13:06| © SuperSport
By:Wilhelm de Swardt
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Tuks hockey team © Reg Caldecott

TuksHockey made history on Thursday when their women's and men's teams clinched Varsity Tournament titles within hours.

In the history of Varsity Sports, it has not happened. The chances that men's and women's teams of the same university ever repeat this feat on the same day are slim.

Both Tuks teams had their work cut out to win. The women's team only secured their victory against Maties in the game's last two minutes. Fittingly it was the team's captain Tegan Fourie who scored the winning goal. The final score was 4-3.

The men's final between Tuks and Wits turned out to be a battle of the drag flickers. Every goal came from a penalty corner. Tuks's captain, Guy Morgan, and Brad Sherwood were phenomenal. Not missing. Morgan got a hat trick. The final score was 4-3.

The last time the men got to play Varsity hockey was in 2018. Tuks ended up being the champions.

For Sigz Ntuli (Tuks men's coach), yesterday was a case of "I love it when hard work pays dividends".

According to him, the fact that Morgan and Sherwood ended up with a 100 per cent scoring record from four penalty corner attempts is not something that just happened. Their heroics is the result of hard work and long hours.

"The final was an excellent example of how good Guy (Morgan) and Brad (Sherwood) are as drag flickers. They are world-class. Guy proved that during last year's Junior World Cup Tournament by being one of the top goal scorers. Bradley is a classic striker who can score in any situation.

"Our team strategy is to get teams to concede penalty corners partly due to their exceptional drag flick skills. It is crucial to bank on scoring from penalty corners, especially if you don't score field goals.

"Guy and Brad are committed to being the best they can. They train every day of the week. After their teammates finish, they will still be honing their drag-flicking skills. Even on Sundays, you will see them and me on Tuks's Astroturf strategising to find ways to be better."

According to Ntuli, playing Wits in the final was challenging.

"Wits play a different brand of hockey. Their style is very confrontational. They love one on one situations being in their opponent's face. It is their way of putting an opposition team under pressure.

"I am proud that my team did not let it get to them. The statistics will show that we dominated most facets of the game. Hats off to Wits' goalkeeper. He is the one who kept them in the game right to the end. I also got to compliment Tuks's defenders. They hardly erred over the two days.

"The 'Tuks Boys' deserved to be champions. As a coach, I am happy . . . so happy," Ntuli said.

Inky Zondi (TuksHockey head coach) ascribed the women's success to pure guts and determination.

"They wanted to be champions. That is why they never gave up, even though the Maties were leading 3-2 in the game's dying moments."

Zondi does not like singling out specific players, but he can't help but be excited about how Hanrie Louw played on defence.

"I was also impressed by how the team's two captains, Onthatile Zulu and Tegan Fourie, combined. Onthatile set up the move that led to Tegan scoring our winning goal. Hats off to Tegan. It took 'ice in your veins' to score the goal she scored."

Thanks to TuksHockey's heroics, the University of Pretoria has won four of the six completed Varsity Tournaments. Tuks's ruby team won the Varsity Cup Tournament. Tuks's under-20 rugby team is the Varsity Young Guns Champions.