A brace by captain Nina Woerman inspired UCT to a 2-0 victory in their Coke Cup final against Spurs Women’s FC at Athlone Stadium on Saturday.
Woerman went on to be crowned player of the match, as her side lifted the trophy. Her first goal will go down as one of the competition’s fastest. She found the back of the net within 43 seconds of the match catching the opponents, the fans and even her teammates, by surprise.
She went on to score her side’s second goal in the 13th minute of the second half to put the match beyond Spur’s reach. For Spurs it was second time unlucky, as they also lost in the final of last year’s competition, on penalties, against UWC.
Led by their experienced goalkeeper Jessica Williams, who is also a South African under-20 international player, and captain Caryn van Rynefeld, who pulled the strings in the first half, Spurs didn’t let the students dominate them.
Spurs’ coach Winston Zeedeberg had to watch the match from the stands as he didn’t have his identification card for the day.
Despite all that, the Wynberg-based side tried hard to work their way into the match but the disciplined UCT defence didn’t budge.
The students brought in winger Nabeelah Galant in the second half, who caused serious problems for Spurs. Nabeelah is one of the country’s brightest young talents right now. She was part of the girls’ national under-17 side that finished second in last month’s Cosafa Cup competition, in Mauritius. She played five matches, including the debut against Seychelles where she scored a hattrick in her side’s record 28-0 win. Now with five international caps and three goals under her belt, Nabeelah said all she needed to do was work hard and play consistently for the club, and everything would fall in place. The former Santos and FC Tafelzught player said the experience gained while at the national team came in handy in the Coke Cup.
“We worked really hard as a team and the results came our way. We knew that every team was going to be difficult to play against so we took every match seriously,” she said. Her coach at UCT, Ahmed Parker described the final as “scrappy”. This, he said, was because it was, in the end, all about getting the results.
“Both sides created a number of chances but somehow didn’t convert them. In the end were are happy with the result,” he said.
Despite being on the losing side for two consecutive years, Williams said it was not the end of the world for them.
“Yes, we lost in the final again but the Coke Cup will always be there. We will get another shot at it again next year. Whether I will be there or not, it doesn’t matter but the team will give it another go,” she said.