LOCAL ladies hockey team Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) are currently third in the Trinidad and Tobago Women’s national league after completing their second round of matches in the Twin-Island Republic over the past weekend.According to club coach Philip Fernandes, the GCC ladies were held to a 3-3 draw by points leaders Paragon last Saturday.
In their first stint of the tournament, the local side went down 2-5 to the Trinidadians (Paragon) some three weeks ago.
In their second game last Saturday, GCC lost 2-4 to Magnolias.
However, on Sunday, the Bourda ladies edged Malvern 2-0 and Notre Dame 2-1.
After an early morning arrival in Trinidad on Saturday, the GCC ladies faced tournament leaders Paragon in the hot sun at 11:00hrs and the two teams produced a high-scoring and exciting duel for spectators as the lead changed hands several times en route to an eventual 3-3 draw.
Gabriella Xavier scored GCC’s opener while Kerensa Fernandes and team captain Sonia Jardine, with a brilliant solo run, rounded off their team’s three-goal tally.
Paragon captain Allana Lewis scored a double for her side while national striker Zene Henry tipped in their third.
GCC next faced Magnolias later that same evening under cooler conditions but failed to produce similar results.
The Magnolias presented a solid defensive block which gave the Guyanese visitors a difficult time to penetrate.
After an opening penalty corner goal in the 14th minute from left back Shaniah De Freitas, the Magnoilas rattled in two more from national strikers Brianna Gouveia and Stacy Sui-Butt before GCC could get on the board.
Although GCC produced two goals during the match from sisters Kerensa Fernandes with a penalty corner strike and Sonia Jardine with a superb reverse shot, the Magnolias proved too much for the Guyanese. Speedy striker Brittany Singh sealed the match with a fourth goal for Magnolias six minutes from full time to leave a final score of 4-2 in favour of Magnolias.
In Sunday morning’s 11:00hrs match GCC faced Malvern for the first time in the competition.
An uncharacteristic field goal from GCC’s holding midfielder Trisha Woodroffe in the 21st minute broke the deadlock and GCC’s frustration of dominating the possession with no goals to show until that moment. After a 1-nil lead at the half, GCC’s Shebiki Baptiste scored the lone goal in the second half giving her team a 2-0 victory.
In the second match of the day GCC faced Notre Dame whom they had previously defeated by a 3-2 margin on their last visit.
Notre Dame had noticeably boosted their arsenal with the addition this time around with a Barbadian international midfielder Nakira and a Trinidadian national striker Dana DeGannes.
In the very second minute of the match, with her first possession, the `Bajan’ weaved through the GCC midfield to feed DeGannbes for the opening goal and a one-nil lead to Notre Dame.
After an unnerving start, GCC finally began to settle into their own game and despite a good competitive battle between the two, GCC captain Jardine came through for her side once more to even the score in the 24th minute.
GCC by this time had begun to mount several meaningful attacks with their short passing game and got the breakthrough through striker Kerensa Fernandes just eight minutes from full time when a deflected pass fell kindly for her in the scoring circle.
Fernandes made no mistake with her finish which was enough to give her side the 2-0 win.
After nine games, the GCC ladies have 4 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses. They return to Trinidad on the weekend of May 30 for their final visit and three more matches.