UWC Ladies Football Club beat RV United 5-2 to win the Sasol League Western Cape, and sealed their spot in the eagerly-awaited National Women’s League - South Africa’s first professional football league for women.
The recent emphatic victory at UWC Sports Stadium means that the Udubs women have brought home two major trophies this season. They also brought home the SAFA Cape Town Coca-Cola Cup a few weeks ago. This latest win also means that UWC will represent the Western Cape in the National Championships which are contested by the champions of all nine provinces.
On a hot afternoon with a mild wind, UWC started slow and the visitors were the first to draw blood midway through the first half. But the home side got back into the game when Banyana Banyana striker Khanya Xesi drove home the equaliser, before substitute Molatelo Kobo put Udubs in the lead going into the break.
Playing against the wind in the second stanza, UWC shrugged off early attacks from the opposition, and Kobo eased the home team supporters’ anxiety when she scored her second goal of the game. The Limpopo-born first-year student was not done yet, as she completed her hat trick to stretch UWC’s lead to 4-1, earning a well-deserved Player of the Match accolade in the process.
RV United would not go down without a fight and they reduced the deficit to 4-2 with 10 minutes remaining. But UWC had the last say as Xesi completed her attack to ensure Udubs’ place in the historic league come 2019.
UWC coach, Nathan Peskin, is over the moon with the win and said the victory has brought relief and joy to the team, who are happy to have achieved the win for the University. “As much as the team will give their all in the club championships next month, their main focus is to prepare well for the professional league,” he said.
“None of us know what is going to happen in the national league, and the only thing we can do is to prepare well, knowing we will be playing against the best of the best in the country.”
“We have a couple of places that we have to fill and strengthen the team in. For me as a coach, I have to take a break, but I will have to scout for more players during the off season so that we can have an early pre-season.”
