10-0! Telkom Orange too good for USIU in women’s league

Veteran striker Jackline Mwangi on Sunday bagged a hat-trick as champions Telkom Orange thrashed United States International University of Africa (USIU-A) 10-0 in a Kenya Hockey Union women’s Premier League encounter played at City Park Stadium.

Kenya internationals Maureen Okumu, Caroline Guchu and Barbara Simiyu scored twice each with Betsy Ommala adding the other as the champions cruised to their second win of the season.

Orange assistant coach Josephine Ataro heaped praises on her charges after the huge win, warning other teams to expect such performances from the 19-time champions.

“We want to collect as many points as possible to be able to retain the title in this first leg and with such results, we are on course,”  Ataro told Nation Sport.

For USIU-A coach John Kabuu, the huge loss was a bitter pill to swallow.

“I think we lost concentration through out the match and got punished for it. To lose by such a huge margin is simply unaccepptable and I am disappointed,”  Kabuu said.

Both teams were looking for their second wins of the season with Orange having beaten Amira 3-0 in their first match, while USIU-A were 2-0 winners over Kenyatta University Titans.

It is the champions who settled in first and took the lead after only two minutes when Simiyu fired past USIU keeper Nonvelle Becca.

The goal inspired Orange to launch more attacks and they doubled their lead on 13 minutes with Simiyu turning provider to set up Okumu who slipped the ball in between Becca’s legs.

Orange were now attacking in numbers with Okumu and Mwangi linking up well upfront with the USIU defence struggling to deal with their threat

Former skipper Ommala got Orange’s third goal finishing off Okumu’s hard shot. Two more goals followed before the halftime whistle as Orange continued to reign supreme.

Guchu scored her first league goal in eight months. She grabbed another three minutes to the break to the delight of her teammates.

The second half followed the same script, with Mwangi grabbing the three goals to put the result beyond doubt.

USIU’s Rhoda Nyambura, Sandra Vodoti and Veronica Maua were all kept at bay by the Orange defence.

Orange keeper Cynthia Onyango was untested as the students failed to register a single goal attempt and were saved by the final whistle as Orange secured the three points.

In another women’s encounter, Strathmore University Scorpions beat UoN 5-1. On Saturday evening, men’s champions Strathmore University were held to a 1-1 draw away to Western Jaguars at the Kakamega High School grounds.

Ian Baron had given the hosts the lead in the 11th minute, but Clayson Luvanda salvaged a point for the champions with the equaliser six minutes from time.