Bounty Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) and GCC Tigers won the men’s and women’s titles respectively at last Sunday’s Bounty Farm sponsored one-day hockey tournament organised by the Guyana Hockey Board at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
GCC men edged out Hikers Cadets 4-3 in an entertaining final while GCC women scored a 3-2 victory over Spice in their decider.
The Bourda side men’s team played unbeaten throughout the competition but found the young Hikers a formidable line up in the final.
The dynamic duo of Orland Semple and Kevin Spencer each found the back of the net in the opening two minutes of the final.
However, Hikers bounced back with strikes from top junior strikers Aroydy Brandford and Michael Harding in the eighth and 10th minutes.
GCC’s full back Dwayne Scott however, completed an overlapping run with a bullet of a shot that left goalkeeper Jason Hoyte with no chance for a save to give GCC the 3-2 lead at the half.
The second half saw more thrilling hockey as GCC pulled further ahead in the 21st minute through a second goal by Spencer while Brandford added his second a minute later for the Cadets. The final whistle bought jubilation to the Bourda camp as GCC held on for the 4-3 victory. The Antonio’s Grille ladies final was an even more competitive tie as it took a penalty shootout to separate the GCC Tigers from rivals Spice after a 1-1 draw at the end of full time.
The two teams also met earlier in the pool round when the Tigers managed to steamroll their less experienced opponents 5-1.
Although Gabriella Xavier got the Tigers off to a blistering start by slipping in an early goal past goalkeeper Natalie Hing in the opening minute, Samantha Fernandes equalised with the only other goal of the match in the 18th minute to see the scores level at 1-1 at full time.
In the ensuing penalty shootout, Hing got the better of Xavier who misfired during the first penalty attempt for the Tigers.
Fernandes then made good on her penalty to give Spice the lead.
However, that would be the final Spice goal of the afternoon while Tigers Ulrica Sutherland and Kerensa Fernandes made it a 3-2 victory with their double penalty strikes.
Thirteen-year-old Shania Riley of Spice, who scored three goals during the tournament was voted the most promising female player while Omar Hopkinson of Old Fort received similar honours among the men.
The one-day tournament marked the start of the Guyana Hockey Board 2013 season.
