PEPSI Hikers and Hikers Generals completed commanding performances on Saturday evening to book semi-final spots and will face off against Old Fort units for a place in the final on the last day of the 2019 Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships at the National Gymnasium.
In the men’s quarter-finals, the highly anticipated matchup between Bounty GCC (+3) and the PEPSI Hikers (0) never amounted to much. GCC seemed out of it from the inception and their lacklustre performance saw them drowned in an onslaught of goals from the Hikers. Leading scorer of the tournament so far, Aroydy Branford, took his overall tally to 30 by scoring four against GCC while Jamarj Assanah added two and Randy Hope and Robert France one each. The GCC boys saw only one glimmer of hope through a 27thminute penalty corner goal by Meshach Sargeant leaving the final score at 8-4 for the Hikers.
The Hikers Generals (+9) continued to impress as they got past the YMCA OFHC Pacesetters (+11) who gave a spirited performance as well. The Generals would take a 14 – 11 lead by half time with five unanswered goals but the Pacesetters seemed to have been pacing themselves and had a five-goal run against in the second half against just two more for the Generals to even the game. Devin Munroe would establish control of the midfield however, and see the Generals to victory with two more goals before the final whistle.
GCC Vintage seemed to be outpaced by a younger more determined YMCA OFHC Top Form who put the Bourda boys on the defensive from the outset. With both teams starting on an even +5, Top Form had amassed a 9-5 lead by the half. Despite GCC’s efforts to come back through a second-half penalty corner goal from Alan Fernandes, Top Form rattled in two more to seal the 11-6 win. The final match of the night saw two youthful teams in SHC Splinters (+9) and YMCA OFHC Champs (+12) try for the last remaining semi-final spot. With the game drawn even by halftime, it seemed to leave little doubt that the Splinters would prevail, however, the Champs relied on former national Ascofu Simon to deliver the killer blow. Simon delivered a powerful penalty corner strike in the final minute of the match to break hearts and secure a 13-12 victory.
