On Sunday, the Guyana Hockey Board’s (GHB) 2024 season got off to a gripping start with the GBTI GCC ladies and Saints men conquering their respective divisions in the Bounty/Antonio’s Grille sponsored One-Day tournament at the National Stadium, Providence.
With 9 male teams split into two groups, ‘A’ consisting of five and ‘B’ four, Group A saw Pepsi Hikers and Saints’ S Team emerging as first and second ranked teams respectively while Group B had Saints Scorpions and Bounty GCC as their top two.
Semi-final one pitted the two Saints teams together while semi-final two saw Bounty GCC clashing with the Pepsi Hikers.
the tournament and deservedly won the title.
The Saints semi-final saw regulation time ending in a 0-0 stalemate which led to an immediate sudden death penalty. The Scorpions stepped up first and missed their first shot while the other two were on target, the S team responded in identical fashion which meant a second round of penalties had to be taken.
The Scorpions scored one and missed one while the S team buried both of theirs to book a spot in the final.
The other semi-final between Bounty GCC and the Pepsi Hikers was a comfortable 2-0 win for the latter as veteran striker Robert France rolled back the years to net either side of halftime to put the Hikers through to the final. His strikes, both field goals, came in the eighth and 16th minutes respectively.
In the final, the Hikers and the Saints S Team were locked in a midfield battle with neither side finding that final touch to score and by the end of regulation time, it required a penalty shootout to decide the Men’s champion. Saints stepped up with Edmond Chinian missing while his teammates Leroy Geer and Ato Greene found the back of the net. Likewise, the Hikers saw Devin Munroe missing their first shot while Robert France and Randy Hope were on target.
Now into sudden death, the Saints just needed to score and Chinian corrected his mistake this time around to duly oblige and find the net setting off wild celebrations among the Saints camp. The women’s division which had only four teams; GBTI GCC, Woodpecker Hikers, Saints Sensations and YMCA Old Fort, saw semi-final matchups between the Hikers and Saints while GBTI GCC faced YMCA Old Fort.
The Saints Sensations brushed past the Woodpecker Hikers 2-0 courtesy of goals from Solana Crum-Ewing (1’) and Makala Poole (15’) while the GBTI GCC ladies ruthlessly dispatched Old Fort 4-0. Ashley DeGroot and Princessa Wilkie had a goal each while Alyssa Xavier netted a brace.
In the final, GBTI GCC showed their quality and experience with a relatively easy 2-0 win over the Saints Sensations to remain undefeated in the tournament. Xavier, again was on target, opening the scoring in the sixth minute while the effervescent Abosaide Cadogan sealed the deal in the 19th minute.
On the individual side, Hikers’ Jasmaine Assanah received the Most Promising Player award for the female category while Cadogan received the Most Valuable Player accolade.
In the men’s division, Leroy Geer of Saints S Team was the Most Promising Player while Hikers’ Robert France was the MVP.
