Tense finals predicted in all classes of DWM Hockey Festival
Jonathan Roberts scores for The 6ix against Old Fort
Jonathan Roberts scores for The 6ix against Old Fort

THE Pizza Hut GCC ladies completed the most dominant run on Saturday evening in the ladies competition since the inception of Diamond Mineral Water Hockey Festival.Pizza Hut GCC brushed aside the Old Fort Shooting Stars 7-0 and the Hikers 5-1 to coast into the final as the heavy favourites for gold.
The Pepsi Hikers men meanwhile easily brushed aside Malvern of Trinidad to complete their unbeaten run in the men’s pool A while Bounty GCC duplicated the feat with a win over Phoenix in pool B.
The veteran division saw the same two clubs leading the table going into the final day of action.
The Pizza Hut GCC ladies controlled the game from the opening whistle against Old Fort as Ashley DeGroot only needed two minutes to get on the scoreboard through an overlapping move on the right side.
DeGroot would add a second later in the match with her double score matched by prolific strikers Sonia Jardine and Kerensa Fernandes while Captain Tiffany Solomon completed the GCC tally with a penalty corner goal.
The Hikers fared a similar fate when they met the GCC ladies later the same evening as Jardine chalked up three first half goals to put her team in cruise control by the midway point.
The Hikers gambled on the bold move of replacing their goalkeeper with an extra field player and were rewarded with a Maria Munroe field goal four minutes into the second half but the celebration was short-lived as Kerensa Fernandes and Aliyah Gordon both scored shortly after to give the Pizza Hut ladies an easy 5-1 victory.
With the Pepsi Hikers men earning the top semifinal spot of Pool A with a 6-1 victory over Malvern and Bounty GCC doing the same in pool B with a 6-3 win over Phoenix, the final match of the evening proved the most entertaining as Old Fort fought to keep their semifinal hopes alive against an experienced The 6ix side from Canada.
Canadian national Jeewan Bath struck first in the 11th minute of play by weaving his way from left to right across goal before deceiving Old Fort goalkeeper Audwin Graham with a nifty tap in.
Old Fort’s Ascofu Simon however kept the local supporters in the game as he responded just one minute later with a swift counterattack to find a space in the far corner beyond advancing goalkeeper Pardeep Koonar.
Aderemi Simon, the other half of the lethal Simon strike force then put Old Fort in the lead in a similar manner by the 18th minute but Bath silenced the crowd with a smashing penalty corner high into the Old Fort net to take the score to 2-2.
The second half saw more end to end action and fine goalkeeping by both Graham and Koonar but a Dwight Sullivan penalty corner rebound slanted the match in Old Fort’s favour two minutes after the resumption.
This would be the final reason to celebrate for the Old Fort fans however as Jonathan Roberts, Micah Texeira and Satnam Dosanjh chalked up three unanswered goals for the 5-3 win.
The victory secured the second semifinal spot in Pool B for The 6ix.
Earlier in the evening, the National Under-21s secured the second semi-final spot in Pool A with when they scored six unanswered goals against Malvern for the easy victory.
The veterans division saw no surprises as GCC continued their successful run with a 5-2 victory over Old Old Fort and a 3-0 win over YMCA.
The Hickers also continued their fine form with a 3-2 win over Malvern and a 5-1 victory over Carib HC.
GCC and the Hickers sit in the first two spots of the veterans division with the semifinalists to be decided after yesterdays’s morning’s matches.
The Pepsi Hikers will face The 6ix in the first men’s division semifinal while Bounty GCC is match against the under-21 in the other.
The ladies final is set to be contested between Pizza Hut GCC and the Old Fort Shooting Stars.

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