The intensity was increased on Wednesday, as the top performing teams across the various divisions booked their places in what are expected to be thrilling playoff contests at the SA Schools Hockey Association (SASHOC) U-18 Nationals in Bloemfontein.

Staying in the hunt for trophies, multiple provinces put up strong fights in the pool stages to keep their title hopes alive at the prestigious tournament.

In the girls’ A-section, hosts Southern Free State went unbeaten in the pool stages, setting up a semi-final clash against Western Province to be played on Thursday, while KZN Inland will square up against Boland in the other semi-final.

In a closely contested boys’ A-section competition, Western Province and KZN Coastals won all five of their matches to finish top of their respective pools. Western Province will turn out against Boland and KZN Coastals are up against Southern Gauteng in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, in the penultimate round of the girls’ B-section, Northern Gauteng will play a derby game against Eastern Gauteng, and Western Province are up against Limpopo.

In the boys’ B-section, Southern Gauteng will face Boland and Northern Gauteng will meet Eden in the semi-finals.

Following Thursday’s semi-final matches, the finals of the various categories at the SASHOC U-18 Nationals will be played on Friday.

All matches can be watched live on the SuperSport Schools app.