Hockey: Strathmore Scorpions register historic win over Blazers

Kenyan international Gilly Okumu made all the difference as Strathmore University Scorpions shocked record champions Blazers 2-0 during their women’s Kenya Hockey Union Premier League match at City Park Stadium in Nairobi on Saturday.

In the men's league, Kenya Police came from two goals won to hold champions Butali Sugar Warriors to a 2-2 draw at the City Park Stadium in the late kick-off.

Festus Onyango and Tristin Karis put Butali in the lead in the 19th and 39th minutes respectively before Samuel Oungo leveled the scores for Police in the 54th and 59th minutes through penalty strokes.

Earlier, Maureen Ogoche (second) and Okumu (26th) scored in the first half to hand Strathmore the deserved win.

This was the first win ever for the students against Blazers since 2014.

The win saw Scorpions, who are coached by Meshack Senge, maintain their lead on standings with nine points from three matches, while Blazers are joint second with United States International University of Africa (USIU-A) with four points although Blazers have played one more game.

Strathmore coach Senge said they will not relax following the historic win.

“We are not a finished product just yet but I’m proud of the performance today and that shows that our structures are finally falling in place. Without a doubt we are celebrating the win because it has been long time coming but the celebration will end today because we have other tricky matches coming up,” said Senge. “We want to build on the win and hopefully go all the way.”

A visibly dejected Blazers assistant coach Josephine Ataro conceded defeat saying their opponents deserved the win.

“Strathmore showed up. I can’t remember the last time we lost against them but really today our defense and midfield failed to work and coordination was poor,” said Ataro.

“It’s a wakeup call that it’s not business usual and we will have to work extra hard if we have to defend the title. The consolation we have however is that we have time to regroup because we have only played three matches,” added the former Kenya national team goalkeeper.

In the match, Strathmore took charge from the kick off and their efforts paid off immediately when Ogoche easily drove the ball past Blazers goalkeeper Cynthia Onyango in the second minute.

Blazers offered little resistance with their midfield failing to connect with their forwards as Scorpions mounted pressure.

An eventful end to the first quarter saw Blazers fail to convert two short corners.

In the second quarter, Scorpions could have scored two more goals but their forwards were wasteful. Okumu took advantage of a defensive blunder from Blazers to sound the boards in the 26th minute to give the students a 2-0 lead going into the breather.

On resumption, Blazers pressed for an early goal but once again their forwards were poor on delivery.

Barbara Simiyu could have pulled one back for Blazers but Strathmore goalkeeper Ritah Opiti cleared the ball as the students deservedly had the last laugh.

In a men’s Premier League match at the same venue, Kenya Police came from behind to hold champions Butali Sugar Warriors to a 2-2 draw.

Festus Onyango and Tristin Karis put Butali ahead in the 19th and 39th minutes respectively before Samuel Oungo leveled the scores for Police in the 54th and 59th minutes through penalty strokes.

A point was a timely consolation for Police assistant coach Kennedy Sikuku who is moaning his daughter who passed away and was buried on Saturday.