Quarter-final berth for SA women's u21 in Germany
The South Africa women's Under-21 hockey team beat Canada 6-3 in their final Pool B match to advance to the quarter-finals of the Women's Junior World Cup in Germany yesterday.
They finished second in their group and will face defending champions the Netherlands tomorrow morning.
Three early South African penalty corners were not converted until Lilian du Plessis made no mistake with a drag flick into the Canadians' goal.
South Africa's strikers penetrated the Canadian defence and created numerous chances.
Coach Lindsey Wright's charges were disappointed to go into the half-time break level on 1-1 after Priya Randhawa equalised for Canada from open play.
"The team has great fighting spirit and took the coach's challenge at half-time, as the Canadians did not make it easy for us, packing their defensive third of the field with all 11 players at times.
"We dominated play for most of the match but lost concentration to let the Canadians in the back door twice during the match."
After the break South Africa stepped up the pace and a brace from Nicole Walraven put daylight between the Africans and the North Americans (3-1).
Striker Tanya Britz set up a decisive finish for Tiffany Jones before Canada pulled one back through Stephanie Norlander.
A penalty corner goal by South Africa's Suleke Brand was matched quickly by Holly Stewart.
As has been their custom in all three of their Pool B matches, the unbeaten South African side added another goal in the last minute through Quanita Bobbs.
They drew 3-3 against both Argentina and China in their earlier matches.
(File photo: Gallo Images)
-Sapa