Defending male and female champions Hikers and G.C.C had a perfect start to their title defence in this Year’s Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Festival which got underway last evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Hikers settled Western Dragons 15-1 while the GCC ladies came from behind to defeat their local rivals Hikers 3-1.
It was by far the day’s most entertaining match with GCC digging deep to take the game from the Hikers’ ladies after the two ended the first half scoreless.
Always looking threatening the lady Hikers would find the opening through Marisha Rodrigues just two minutes after the restart of the second half to give her side the go ahead goal.
The Hikers would find new energy after Rodrigues’ strike but GCC held their composure and equalised through Kerensa Fernandes in the 30th minute.
This certainly was the wake up call the female champs wanted as Fernandes’ goal breathed fresh air into the team which doubled up through their veteran players Tricia Fiedtkou (36th minute) and Brenette Gordon (40th Minute).
Meanwhile in the Males, champions Hikers were just too strong for the Dragons with their star players leading the onslaught on the West Demerara team.
National player Jerezeno Bell scored a quadruple, netting in the 5th, 20th, 27th, and 32nd minutes while Shane Samuels (15th, 35th and 36th minutes) and Robert France (6th, 28th and 29th minutes) both scored triples.
Alex Gouveia (2nd and 26th minutes) along with Devin Munroe (8th and 23rd minutes) scored a double each and Richard Mathiesas scored the other goal for the defending champs.
Dean Bradford was responsible for scoring the loser’s lone goal with an 18th-minute strike.
Also registering a good start in this year’s championships was Old Fort who whipped YMCA of Barbados 10 goals to two.
Jonathan Roberts was the chief gunman in the Guyanese club firing squad scoring four goals (9th, 16th, 26th and 39th) while his partners Jason De Santos (12th and 29th) and Aderemi Simon (6th and 19th) scored two goals a piece. Nicolas Wren (23rd) and Aidum De Gannes (8th) were the other scorers.
Timothy Pains (34th) and Shawn Harewood (37th) were the two scorers for the team from the Land of the Flying Fish.
The Hikers veteran squad was able to overcome GCC veterans 3-1 with a goal each coming from Timothy Jonas, Sheldon Corlette and Timothy McIntosh. Guyana Hockey Board President Phillip Fernandes was the loan scorer for the GCC veterans.
15 matches are slated for today starting from 9:00 hours for the event which wraps up on Sunday December 6.
