The premier leagues for hockey for both genders got off to an exciting start over the past weekend on the St. Stanislaus College Ground, Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown.
Junior men’s national side, Supernova scored the opening goal of the 2019 Farfan and Mendes Men’s First Division League through a penalty corner strike from Samuel Woodroffe.
The defending champions, Pepsi Hikers however, sprung to life through prolific national striker Aroydy Branford who scored a hat-trick of goals in the first half with Andrew Stewart adding another. The second half was littered once again with goals by Branford who match his first half tally of three goals, while teammate and fellow national Jamarj Assanah scored a single. The Hikers therefore emerged with an easy 8-1 victory.
In another high-scoring match, Bounty GCC annihilated GCC Vintage 14-2. The Bounty boys chalked up nine unanswered goals by the half mainly through young Meshach Sargeant who had four to his name. Vintage managed two goals late in the second half but not before Bounty GCC had put the game well beyond their reach to finish on 14-2.
Two second half goals by Shakeem Fausette in the 36th minute and Hilton Chester in the 56th gave Saints their maiden First Division victory over Old Fort and perhaps the club’s first ever First Division win in its short history. Old Fort fielded a young side with new developmental players adding to their remaining seniors and fell short of the mark, succumbing 2-0 to Saints.
Teams returned on Sunday where Vintage suffered their second huge loss this time to the Pepsi Hikers 9-1. Bounty GCC smashed Saints by a similar margin while Old Fort showed an improved performance by drawing with Supernova 1-1.
The lone ladies fixture of the weekend pitted favourites GBTI GCC against the Bingo Spartans. While the Spartans showed some grit and clearly had youthful legs on their side, the GBTI ladies were clearly the stronger of the two sides.
Midfielder Madison Fernandes surprisingly put the Spartans ahead through a crafty reverse shot off a penalty corner in the ninth minute which seemed to make the GBTI ladies buckle down to business. GBTI rattled off five unanswered goals in cruising to a 5-1 victory.
SUMMARISED SCORES:
Farfan & Mendes Men’s First Division League
PEPSI Hikers defeated Supernova by 8 – 1
Goals:
Hikers – Aroydy Branford 6, Andrew Stewart 1, Jamarj Assanah 1
Supernova – Samuel Woodroffe 1
Bounty GCC defeated GCC Vintage by 14 – 2
Goals:
Bounty GCC – Meshach Sargeant 5, Mark Sargeant 3, Kareem McKenzie 3, Shaquille Leung 1, Kevin Spencer 1, Peter DeGroot 1
Vintage – Eric Hing 1, Andrew Xavier 1
Saints defeated Old Fort by 2 – 0
Goals:
Saints – Shakeem Fausette 1, Hilton Chester 1
PEPSI Hikers defeated GCC Vintage by 9 – 1
Goals:
Hikers – Devin Munroe 5, Aroydy Branford 3, Brian Asregado 1
Vintage – Philip Fernandes 1
Bounty GCC defeated Saints by 9 – 1
Goals:
Bounty GCC – Kareem McKenzie 2, Meshach Sargeant 2, Mark Sargeant 2, Steven Xavier 1, Kevin Spencer 1, Shaquille Leung 1
Saints – Edmund Chinian 1
Supernova drew with Old Fort 1 – 1
Goals:
Supernova – Meshach Sargeant 1
Old Fort – John Abrahams 1
Woodpecker Ladies First Division League
GBTI GCC defeated the Bingo Spartans by 5 – 1
Goals:
GBTI – Shebiki Baptiste 2, Carina Muller 2, Marzana Fiedtkou 1
Spartans – Madison Fernandes 1
Matches are being held on the St. Stanislaus College Ground and will run every Saturday and Sunday until May 20.
