“Goals Galore” on Noble House opening night

2019 Indoor Hockey Championships…

Several clubs had the opportunity to sip victory on the opening night of the 2019 Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships, which saw mixed results in the men’s and women’s divisions.
The big winners of the night, however, were the GBTI GCC Spice, who started on zero and rained in 16 unanswered goals to dominate their opponents YMCA OFHC Bellatrix. The Bingo Spartans were the other female team to secure a win while GCC Vintage, SHC Splinters and YMCA OFHC Pacesetters were all victorious in the men’s division.
In the opening match of the evening, the Bingo Spartans, beginning with a five-goal handicap to the GBTI GCC Tigers 3, needed to defend toughly as their name suggested and work the clock to hold off their senior opponents. It took the Tigers 13 minutes to finally break the Spartans defence through a penalty stroke converted by national midfielder and former sportswoman of the year Marzana Fiedtkou. After a halftime which saw the scores at 5-4 for the Spartans, striker Sandy Roopnarine capitalised on a first-minute defence error by the Spartans to squeeze in a second goal for the Tigers. With scores even at 5-5, young Spartans striker Abosaide Cadogan would become the hero of her team as she sent a penalty corner flick high into the roof of the Tigers net in the 27th minute. Cadogan would use her speed to outpace the Tigers defence and finish her second just two minutes later.
With the Tigers down two, the pressure was set once again on the shoulders of the Spartans and Captain Makeda Harding who had been solid in defence. Fiedtkou pulled her team within one through a penalty corner late in the second half, but the Tigers would run out of time and conceded the 7-6 victory to the Spartans.
With the relatively new YMCA OFHC Bellatrix enjoying a nine-goal handicap, the GBTI GCC Spice launched a full attack from the opening whistle. In the end, the 16 unanswered goals scored by Spice signalled that they would be the team to beat in the female division. Ashley DeGroot led the scorer’s table with five goals while Macaela Harding scored four, Gabriella Xavier finished with three and the Woodroffe sisters, Trisha and Dacia added two more each.
In the men’s division, defending champions GCC Vintage cruised to a comfortable 15-13 win over youthful YMCA OFHC Champs. With the Champs starting the match with 12 goals to the Vintage’s 5, Vintage striker Dwayne Scott took on the challenge and secured a hat-trick in the opening 10 minutes. Patrick Edghill would add a fourth Vintage goal just before the half to leave the scores at 12-9 to YMCA. In the second half, it was more Vintage as Scott would equal his first-half tally with three more goals in the second half while John Phang, Alan Fernandes and Jason Gomes each added singles.
The goal that brought the most noise from the crowd, however, was the final of the match and first for the YMCA, when Daniel Woolford finished off a counterattack to score two minutes from full time. This goal would not be enough as GCC Vintage carted off the victory.
The SHC Splinters held off an onslaught by Bounty GCC who almost made up the six-goal handicap deficit. With GCC beginning with three goals to the Splinters’ nine, they would score four by halftime through brothers Mark and Meshach Sargeant and a double from Kevin Spencer. Kwesi Lewis of the Splinters, however, scored a vital goal just before the half that would become the goal to separate the scores in the end. The Bounty boys mustered a pair of Kareem McKenzie goals in the second half after twice hitting the uprights, but fell short by one, giving the SHC Splinters a 10-9 victory.
The final match of the night saw the YMCA Old Fort Pacesetters hold off a strong challenge from the SHC Slick Sticks by 12- 11. After beginning the match with a three-goal handicap deficit, the Slick Sticks pulled themselves within one goal of drawing even with 10 minutes remaining. It was not until the penultimate minute, however, that the Pacesetters scored their lone goal of the evening through Steffon Simmons to go back up by two. Shakeem Fausette would score in the final minute for the Slick Sticks and give their supporters some hope, but the final buzzer would go off too soon leaving the Pacesetters to celebrate the 12-11 victory.
Games in the Noble House indoor tournament will continue on weekdays from 17:00h (5pm) and will conclude this weekend, with action starting from 14:00h (2pm).