TUESDAY evening’s matches of the 2019 Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships presented the first showing of the mighty PEPSI Hikers, who amassed the highest total of goals for a single match with 21 to signal a real threat to their opposition.

Apart from Hikers; GCC and Saints also had productive evenings in both male and female competitions being played at Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The PEPSI Hikers, boasting a plethora of senior national players, seemed to be in cruise control as they crafted goal after goal against the junior YMCA OFHC Champs. With the Champs beginning on a 12-goal handicap, Hikers pulled within two by the half and then continued their dominance in the second half en route to a victory of 21 goals to 12.

Prolific striker Aroydy Branford was the standout of the match in terms of goals as his total of 11 in a single game is unmatched for the tournament so far.

A fit and fast YMCA OFHC Top Form indeed seemed to be in top form, as they took on the seasoned Hikers Generals. With Top Form beginning on a 5-goal handicap to the Generals’ 9, they first needed to make up a four-goal deficit to draw even.

Top Form earned in just the second minute of play a penalty corner, which was converted with much aplomb by marksman Omar Hopkinson in what seemed like the beginning of a long and difficult match for the Generals.

The seasoned Generals, however, led by former national Devin Munroe, stemmed the tide and held Top Form scoreless for the rest of the half.  The second half of play seemed a carbon copy of the first, as Hopkinson slammed home a second penalty corner goal two minutes after resumption but was unable to produce any further goals for the match. The final outcome saw Generals stroll off with a 9-7 victory.

GCC Vintage chalked up their second win of the competition by defeating the YMCA OFHC Pacesetters by 15-13.  While Vintage enjoyed a five-goal handicap, they still needed six goals just to draw even with Pacesetters who had a handicap of eleven goals.

Veterans Dwayne Scott and Alan Fernandes led the charge for Vintage who made up the deficit before the end of the first half and cruised to victory in the second.

The ladies’ competition saw two close matches. The unbeaten GBTI GCC Spice with zero handicap faced Bingo Spartans with a five-goal handicap. From the opening whistle, the Tigers applied pressure on their junior opponents and Dacia Woodroffe’s opening penalty corner goal in the fifth minute signalled their intention to win.

Skilful striker Gabriella Xavier added a second for Tigers four minutes later, moving the score to 2-5 still in favour of the defensive Spartans.  A surprise overlapping run, however, from left back Makeda Harding saw her pounce on a rebound and score against the run of play for the Spartans.  Macaela Harding, opponent and sister of Makeda, not to be outdone, nudged the GBTI ladies one step further with her field goal two minutes before lemon-time.

The second half saw some good counterattacks from Spartans but Tigers dominated the scoresheet with three more goals – a Xavier double and a single from Woodroffe. The highly contested match between the two undefeated sides saw their unbeaten records remain intact as the final score read 6-6.

The Saints ladies, with a five-goal handicap, took to the court for the first time in the other female matchup of the evening against the YMCA OFHC Bellatrix with a nine-goal handicap.  Captain and national striker Tekeisha Deleon led from the front for Saints scoring a helmet-trick (four goals) for her side while young speedster Chrlia Webb added a single.

The five unanswered goals, the last of which came in the final minute, saw Saints edge the Bellatrix by 10-9.