Other Sport
SA women into hockey final
2013-02-09 19:37
Pietie Coetzee (Plate Pictures)
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Cape Town - Veteran striker Pietie Coetzee scored a brace, guiding South Africa to a 2-1 win over Australia in the second semi-final of the Investec Challenge women's hockey tournament in Cape Town on Saturday.
The hosts will face world No 1, the Netherlands in Sunday's final, while the Hockeyroos will square up against England in the third-place playoff.
Coetzee took her world record tally to 262 goals in as many Test matches with strikes in the 12th and 35th minutes, while Casey Eastham pulled one back for Australia in the dying stages of the match.
In the 12th minute, Marsha Marescia slipped a perfect through-ball to Coetzee, who laid off to Lilian du Plessis, and the return pass saw Coetzee’s slap-shot nearly burst the net.
With seconds remaining before half-time, the Coetzee, 34, scored her second goal of the game with a well-disguised penalty corner drag-flick that eluded Australian keeper Ashlee Wells and her defence.
SA keeper Sanani Mangisa continued her astonishing form with another commanding performance to help her side secure victory.
Earlier, the Netherlands had defeated a determined England outfit 3-0 with three goals in the second half - a brace by Maartje Paumen and a penalty corner rebound from Ellen Hoog with 10 minutes left.