Saints Captain Tekeisha Deleon controlled the ball against Tamala Glenn of Bellatrix
Noble House Indoor Tournament
Tuesday evening’s matches of the 2019 Noble House “Goals Galore” Indoor Hockey Championships witnessed the first showing of the mighty PEPSI Hikers, who amassed the highest total of goals for a single match, with 21 to signal a real threat to their opposition.
Apart from the Hikers, GCC and Saints also had productive evenings in both male and female competitions.
The PEPSI Hikers, boasting a plethora of senior national players, seemed to be on cruise control as they crafted goal after goal against the junior YMCA OFHC Champs. With the Champs beginning on a 12-goal handicap, the Hikers pulled within two by the half, and then continued their dominance in the second half en route to a victory of 21 goals to 12.
Prolific striker Aroydy Branford was the standout of the match, as his total of 11 in a single game is unmatched in the tournament so far.
A fit and fast YMCA OFHC Top Form indeed seemed to be in top form as they took on the seasoned Hikers Generals. With Top Form beginning on a 5-goal handicap to the Generals 9, they first needed to make up a four-goal deficit to draw even. Top Form earned a penalty corner in just the second minute of play, and it was converted with much aplomb by marksman Omar Hopkinson in what seemed like the beginning of a long and difficult match for the Generals. The seasoned Generals, however, led by former national Devin Munroe, stemmed the tide and held Top Form scoreless for the rest of the half.
The second half of play seemed a carbon copy of the first, as Hopkinson slammed home a second penalty corner goal two minutes after resumption, but was unable to produce any further goals for the match. The final outcome saw the Generals strolling off with a 9-7 victory.
GCC Vintage chalked up their second win of the competition by defeating the YMCA OFHC Pacesetters by a 15-13 margin. While Vintage enjoyed a five-goal handicap, they still needed six goals just to draw even with the Pacesetters, who had a handicap of eleven goals.
Veterans Dwayne Scott and Alan Fernandes led the charge for Vintage, who made up the deficit before the end of the first half, and cruised to victory in the second.
The ladies’ competition saw two close matches, with the unbeaten GBTI GCC Spice, with zero handicap, facing the Bingo Spartans, with five goals. From the opening whistle, the Tigers applied pressure on their junior opponents, and Dacia Woodroffe’s opening penalty corner goal in the fifth minute signalled their intent to win.
Skilful striker Gabriella Xavier added a second for the Tigers four minutes later, moving the score to 2-5 still in favour of the defensive Spartans. A surprise overlapping run however, from left back Makeda Harding, saw her pouncing on a rebound and scoring against the run of play for the Spartans.
Not to be outdone, Macaela Harding, opponent and sister of Makeda, nudged the GBTI ladies one step further with her field goal scored two minutes before lemon time.
The second half saw some good counterattacks from the Spartans, but the Tigers dominated the score sheet with three more goals: being a Xavier double and a single from Woodroffe. The highly contested match between the two undefeated sides saw their unbeaten records remain intact, as the final score read 6-6.
The Saints ladies, with a five-goal handicap, took to the court for the first time in the other female matchup of the evening against the YMCA OFHC Bellatrix with a nine-goal handicap. Captain and national striker Tekeisha Deleon led from the front for Saints, scoring a helmet trick (four goals) for her side while young speedster Charlia Webb added a single. The five unanswered goals, the last of which came in the final minute, saw Saints edge the Bellatrix by 10 goals to their 9.
