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SPORT
UWC Ladies’ Football Club has won the tough Western Cape Sasol League for the first time in the club’s history.
Another trophy for Udubs Ladies
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WC Ladies’ Football Club are the new champions of the Western Cape Sasol League – the senior women’s football league in South Africa. The Udubs Ladies fought hard to come back from a goal down to topple then log leaders Spurs Ladies 2-1 at Nyanga Stadium on 15 October 2016. After trailing by a goal in the first half, Udubs came back in the second half when Kelso Peskin’s powerful header found the net after a well-taken Thalea Smidt corner. Banyana Banyana star Leandra Smeda added another when she fired in a cracker from outside the box to ensure that the team bagged all three points. The win shot UWC to the top of the log standings.They wrapped up the league in style in their last game when they beat Ikamva Ladies 4-1, also at Nyanga Stadium. Although missing key players Thembi Kgatlana and Amogelang Motau, who were called up to the Banyana Banyana team to face Egypt in a friendly game on 22 October, the team showed that they had enough depth when a brace by Aaqilah Alfreds and a goal each by Peskin and Smidt ensured that they brought the cup home. This was not only the team’s first Sasol League title, but their third trophy in three weeks and the fourth for the year. After winning a knockout trophy in the Northern Suburbs Local Football
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Association, the team won the SAFA Cape Town-organised Coca Cola Cup, to add to the University Sport South Africa Club Championships crown won at the beginning of the year. Coach Nathan Peskin credits his players, both current and past, as well as his technical team, for the team’s successes. “We managed to win the league for the first time in the six years I have been the head coach at UWC. Being crowned Western Cape Sasol League champions is a huge honour and has further catapulted the Institution into the forefront of the development of women and women’s football.” Peskin says the success of the team did not come overnight. “Our achievements this year are the fruition of very long-term goals. It took patience, focus and continuous hard work to achieve what we have as a team this year. I am extremely proud of all the players who have helped achieve these long-term goals over the last few years. This has not been a success story of one season. It has been a work in progress and everyone that contributed over the past six years needs to be saluted,” says Peskin. The Udubs team have a chance to add another trophy to their cabinet when they represent the province in the Sasol League national play-offs scheduled to take place in December. MG
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