The GCC male first division team retained their crown as GT&T National Indoor Hockey champions in a scintillating final against the Hikers with a penalty shootout at the end of regulation time to separate the two teams.
GCC Spartans upstaged their senior counterparts and defending champions GCC Tigers by 1-0 to secure the ladies’ trophy; GCC Vets cruised to a 7-1 victory over the Hickers. In the other category, Hikers Recruits managed to easily retain their second division title with a dominating 10-3 performance against Old Fort.
Hikers’ captain and menacing striker Robert France carved his way through a packed GCC defence to blast home the match’s first goal six minutes into the men’s first division final. The ensuing celebration was short-lived however, as GCC’s dynamic duo of Kevin Spencer and Orland Semple answered in quick succession with a goal each before Stephen Xavier added one of his own to give GCC a 3-1 half-time lead.
Hikers overlapping right back Shane Samuels was the first to make his presence felt in the second half as he let go a terrific strike high into the GCC net two minutes after the resumption, Spencer restored confidence in the GCC side by notching his second of the night, two minutes later.
Former national captain Devin Munroe and France with his second of the night brought the crowd to its feet as they managed a goal apiece on the 28th and 29th minute to draw the scores even at 4-4.
Just as the momentum seemed to swing in the Hikers favour however, Spencer completed his hat-trick off a superb deceptive pass from Semple to nudge GCC ahead in the closing minutes. The Hikers then made a risky tactical move that paid off as they pulled their goalkeeper from the game and replaced him with an extra field player.
The ramped up pressure produced a shot on goal for the Hikers which was parried by Hing in the GCC nets, but Captain France was onto the rebound with lightning speed to drive his shot home for the final goal of the match, which evened the score at 5-5.
The nervous supporters had to endure the suspense of a penalty shootout to determine the 2013 GT&T champs. Raphael DeGroot with a diving finish and then Orland Semple both managed to find the back of the net in the shootout, while eventual competition MVP Eric Hing managed to do just enough to force Munroe and France of the Hikers to send their shots wide, giving GCC the victory.
The Women’s final saw an evenly contested battle which saw an experienced Tigers piling on the pressure on the Spartans who had endured a tougher semi-final earlier in the day. While strikers Kerensa Fernandes and Sonia Jardine produced some exciting hockey in the Spartans goal area, Briawna Gordon making her debut in goal, produced an outstanding performance to keep them scoreless.
Right backs Tricia Woodroffe for the Tigers and Gabriella Xavier for the Spartans both were key influences on the match and launched many dangerous attacks for their teams, but it was young Aliyah Gordon who would steal the show four minutes from full-time.
Receiving a Samantha Fernandes pass from the right, Gordon exhibited sublime trickery to deceive the Tigers defense and goalkeeper Natalie Hing to slide home the match’s only goal and secure the victory for Spartans.
GT&T Public Relations Officers, Allyson Parker and Nadia DeAbreu, were on hand to present the trophies and medals to the winning teams and individual awardees. Following his clean sheet in the finals penalty shootout, GCC goalkeeper Eric Hing received the MVP for the men’s first division competition.
Finals goal scorer Aliyah Gordon received the accolade for the Women’s competition while veteran top scorer Philip Fernandes and dynamic midfielder Jamarj Assanah were selected for the Veterans and Men’s second division competitions respectively.
