THREE teams remain unbeaten after Thursday evening’s matches of the 2019 Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships. 

Hikers continue to dominate the men’s division, as Hikers Generals and PEPSI Hikers secured their third victories while in the female division, Bingo Spartans managed to upstage Saints to keep their perfect record intact.

The highly anticipated Bingo Spartans versus Saints match featured a number of the country’s top junior players and saw both teams start dead even with 5-goal handicaps.

The sound of the opening whistle had hardly subsided when speedy striker Abosaide Cadogan received a penetrating pass from left back Makeda Harding on the right side and flicked a hard shot into the Saints net.

The game saw good moments from each side but the depth of Spartans side tipped the balance of possession in their favour.

Three minutes before the half, midfielder Madison Fernandes converted a Spartans penalty corner to take her team into the halftime break up by 7-5.

The second half saw a few close chances wasted but mostly it became a midfield battle for dominance.

With the clock winding down, Fernandes pounced on a loose ball in the Saints circle and surprised the Saints defence with her shot into the low right hand corner.

The match ended on an 8-5 score line for Bingo Spartans who rose to the top of the points table as a result.

GBTI GCC Tigers upstaged their clubmates GBTI GCC Spice by 4-3.

Spice had the task of coming from three goals down as Tigers enjoyed a 3-goal handicap to the Spice’s 0.

Spice began to reel in Tigers as they scored their first two goals by the 7th minute through Gabriella Xavier and Ashley DeGroot.

Tigers, however, held firm for the rest of the match and against the run of play. They went one up eight minutes after resumption through a Marzana Fiedtkou penalty corner to go up 4-2.

Xavier scored again with a last-minute penalty corner but could not prevent Tigers’ 4-3 victory.

YMCA OFHC Wolves similarly faced off against clubmates YMCA OFHC Bellatrix.

Bellatrix 9-goal handicap to Wolves’ 5, proved enough to give Bellatrix their first point of the competition, as the game finished on a score of 9-9.

In addition to their 5-goal handicap, Wolves scored four goals through Cassie Campbell, MinSodia Culpepper, Jasmine Assanah and Romichelle Brumell.

Hikers Generals, with a 9-goal handicap, faced off against Bounty GCC with 3 goals in the men’s competition.

Despite the Generals composition of aging players including a few former nationals, Bounty GCC found it difficult to penetrate their well-organised defence.

In the 14th minute of play, however, substitute Lennox Carrol turned the tide almost as soon as he took the floor with an opening goal for GCC which was immediately followed by a second from teammate Steven Xavier.

After a halftime score of 5-9, GCC made further inroads through Xavier and Mark Sargeant before Generals stalwart Devin Munroe netted the first for his team.

With Generals still up by 10-7, GCC pressed hard in the closing minutes and managed to pull within one through Kevin Spencer and Meshach Sargeant but could not catch Generals in time, leaving them to enjoy a 10-9 victory.

PEPSI Hikers were all business as they took the court against GCC Vintage. With GCC enjoying a 5-goal handicap, they seemed intent on defending their advantage and packed their defensive area.

The Hikers managed to chip in three goals by the half to GCC’s one and added another four in the second half to come out with a 7-6 victory, thereby retaining their position atop Pool A.

YMCA OFHC Champs (12) managed to hold off SHC Slick Sticks (8) to emerge with a final score of 14-13 for the Champs. Baraka Garnett was the leading scorer of the match with a hat-trick for the Slick Sticks but it was not enough to overcome the Champs.

Pepsi Hikers lead Pool A of the men’s division with 9 points while Vintage GCC and YMCA OFHC Champs share the second spot with 6 points each. 

YMCA OFHC Pacesetters are third with 3 points while the SHC Slick Sticks are yet to earn points.

Hikers Generals with 9 points sit on top of Pool B, SHC Splinters are in second position with 3 points while Bounty GCC and YMCA OFHC Top Form each have one point.

In the women’s competition, GBTI GCC Tigers lead the single pool with 9 points with Bingo Spartans in second place on 7 points.

GBTI GCC Spice and Saints are tied for third with 4 points each followed by the YMCA OFHC Wolves with 2 and YMCA OFHC Bellatrix 1.