For the third consecutive year, Saints Hockey Club (SHC) has travelled to the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago to compete in the Ventures Hockey Club’s international indoor tournament, staged this year from January 9-12, 2025.
Having competed for the first time on foreign soil in 2024, the SHC Women’s team, which included six teenagers, showed remarkable improvement this year. They lost their first match to TT Police Service 1-3; although they had dominated the second half, they were unable to convert their opportunities.
They bounced back in their next match to put away UWI Lions 3-0, but their most notable performance was against the tournament’s eventual winners, Paragon, in their final group match.
Playing phenomenal, fast-paced hockey against a side littered with senior national players, Saints Women lost by the narrowest of margins, 1-2 St. Stanislaus College fourth former Makaylah Poole was SHC’s outstanding performer, scoring four of her team’s five goals.
Saints Men were, however, the talk of the tournament, having topped their group on goal difference with wins against UWI Lions 7-0, Fatima 4-1, and TT Defence Force 4-1 Their only group stage loss came at the hands of Malvern: 0-1.
The Saints Men then defeated TT Police Service 4-3 in the semifinal to set up a rematch with TT Defence Force (TTDF) in the final. Things seemed to be going the way of their first match in the early exchanges, with the SHC defence standing firm against the high energy attacks of TTDF.
The difference this time was that the SHC counter attacks and penalty corners they created were smothered by the TTDF goalkeeper. The first half ended 0-0.
SHC had numerous goal-scoring opportunities in the second half, but time and time again the TTDF goalkeeper was up to the challenge.
Near the end of the second half, a bit of individual brilliance by the TTDF forward Caleb Guiseppi slipped the ball under the SHC advancing goalkeeper to take a 1-0 lead, which they held till the end.
SHC’s Baraka Garnett was the club’s top scorer with 5 goals, and Oshazay Savory received ‘the best defender’ award of the tournament.
In an invited comment, head coach of SHC, Robert Fernandes, said, “I thought the women showed remarkable improvement compared to last year. They were competitive in every match despite being the youngest team here. All credit goes to their coach Tivesarid Garnett, who is proving to be one of the most outstanding young coaches in Guyana.
“The boys displayed exceptional discipline in defence, and it reflected in the stats. Aside from the semifinal match, they conceded less than a goal a match throughout the tournament. With that type of defence, they’ll be competitive in every match, as they showed. I was disappointed that we didn’t convert our opportunities in the final, because we did create enough to win. We will have to regroup and work on our finishing for next year, but all in all, both teams showed improvement over last year’s performance.”
