WINDHOEK - Saints men’s team were crowned the 2019 Bank Windhoek National Indoor Hockey League champions, after they sealed the title in a record-breaking season by defeating Deutscher Turn und Sportverein (DTS) 10-3 on Friday evening, as well as thrashing University of Namibia (Unam) 7-1 on Saturday evening.
Saints scored a total of 66 goals thus far, conceding only eight. “It is indeed a record breaking season for any men’s hockey team in the Bank Windhoek Men’s Premier League. Under the guidance of their coach Trevor Cormack, Saints are in a league of their own and the results are testament thereof,” said Namibia Hockey Union’s Media Liaison Officer, Thomas Duncan.
The majority of the Saints players are part of the high performance training squad which comprises of silver medalists who recently took part in the Inter-Provisional Tournament (IPT) hosted in South Africa, where they finished second losing to Western Province in the final.
Most of the players have been together for the best part of the last eight years, actively participating in the Professional Series Indoor (PSI) held in South Africa on an annual basis. “Considering the current depth and age of the squad, the development of Namibian hockey is headed into the promising direction,” added Duncan.
During their title defence, Saints had to overcome tough competition to achieve success. Energetic title contenders Windhoek Old Boys Sports Club (WOBSC), who are in a transition phase, where no match for Saints who dominated the matches when the two rivals met.
Other teams such as Wanderers, has shown vast improvement in their style of play, but still has a lot of work to do. DTS, who are currently second in the league table, continue to build on their disciplined approach, which is starting to pay dividends.
Men’s Premier League
In other matches, DTS and Unam faced each other twice and drew four and one-all respectively. The return of some of Unam’s experienced players proved to be a much-needed boost going into the second round of the season.
Men’s Reserve Premier League
University of Science and Technology (Nust) narrowly defeated Unam 3-2 in a battle between the tertiary institutions on Friday evening. Thereafter Unam picked up their game and went on to comprehensively inflict a 6-1 defeat on Angels.
DTS beat Nust 2-0, while Saints overcame Unam with a 5-2 score line. Wanderers won 3-1 against Angels on Saturday. Matches that took place on Sunday, saw Unam beat Wanderers 5-0 and Saints beat Angels 7-0. Saints currently lead on 23 points, closely followed by DTS on 22 points while WOBSC sit in third place on 18 points to round up the top three in this league.
Women’s Premier League
Saints lead the way on 16 points with a commanding lead over Unam and WOBSC who both find themselves on seven points apiece. “One can assume that the Saints women’s team are in a firm position to take the title as well. However, this will still depend on performances of Unam and WOBSC who are keen to battle it out until the last whistle,” concluded Duncan.
On Saturday evening, Saints overcame Unam 5-2, while Wanderers sealed a 2-0 victory over DTS. Unam beat DTS 3-0 the following day.
Women’s Reserve Premier League
The solitary fixture played in this division saw Angels beat Wanderers 4-1. As it stands, Angels are top of the log standings on 15 points, followed by Saints who are on 14 and Coastal Raiders who occupy the third spot on eight points.
In fourth place are Wanderers with seven points on the table. The next round of fixtures of the 2019 Bank Windhoek National Indoor Hockey League, will take place this coming weekend at DTS’ Indoor Hockey Field in Windhoek and The Dome, in Swakopmund.