Sparked by a six-goal tal­ly from na­tion­al for­ward Kristin Thomp­son, Paragon opened its de­fence of the 10th an­nu­al Ven­tures Hock­ey Club's In­vi­ta­tion­al In­ter­na­tion­al In­door Hock­ey Tour­na­ment women's ti­tle with an 18-2 thrash­ing of US vis­i­tors Fear None I, at the Wood­brook Youth Fa­cil­i­ty, yes­ter­day.

Thomp­son was aid­ed by Rolan­da Cuffy-Bernard, who scored an im­pres­sive four goals, fol­lowed by Danielle Thomp­son and Avion Ash­ton, each scor­ing a brace, while Keima Gar­diner, Alan­na Lewis, Arielle Williams and Niki­ta Cud­joe scor­ing one each.

Fear None could on­ly muster a soft re­sponse from Ash­ley Jones and Chelsea Davis, who were on tar­get with just one goal.

In the men's di­vi­sion, de­fend­ing cham­pi­on Petrotrin and Queen's Park were in ac­tion af­ter press time, last night.

The day opened with a clash of the host as Ven­tures' first team faced the sec­ond-lev­el out­fit and es­caped with a nar­row 2-1 win.

Out­stand­ing na­tion­al play­er Yese­nia Luces, cap­tain of Ven­tures' first team, scored with­in two min­utes of play, but that failed to is­sue the ex­cit­ing fi­nales which the fol­low­ing match­es pro­duced.

Luces' goal was fol­lowed 12 min­utes lat­er by a re­ply from Ven­tures II through Anya Sealy who net­ted the equalis­er.

The dead­locked score was soon bro­ken by a quick re­sponse by none oth­er than Luces again, whose goal in the 19th minute was enough to sal­vage the win for the first-team out­fit.

The third match was one to be re­mem­bered. The sec­ond-team out­fit of trav­el­ling club Fear None fared much bet­ter, but in the end lost out by virtue of a sec­ond-to-last minute item from Blair Wynne, who scored her fourth goal of the match to steal the match 7-6 for Notre Dame in an ex­cit­ing, even­ly con­test­ed en­counter.

Wynne's na­tion­al team­mate and club­mate Arielle Du Ques­nay scored a brace, while Tamia Roach scored the oth­er goal for Notre Dame.

In the Men's Vet­er­ans di­vi­sion, Notre Dame edged St Mar­tin in what too was a thrilling match-up. With four min­utes re­main­ing in the match, Notre Dame went from trail­ing 4-2 to win the match 5-4.

Notre Dame's Sel­wyn King scored his first goal of the match in the 27th minute. This was fol­lowed less than a minute lat­er by Scott Dop­son's equalis­er, his third goal of the match.

The 'Dames' fi­nal­ly tum­bled St Mar­tin with King's sec­ond and most im­por­tant goal of the en­counter. Col­in Thomp­son, coach of Paragon Women played as a guest and scored a dou­ble.

The first Vet­er­ans match be­tween na­tion­al cham­pi­ons Queen's Park and De­fence Force failed to be­gin, with the lat­ter tak­ing a de­fault win.

To­day's fix­tures

Women

Ven­tures I v Fear None II, 12 pm

Ven­tures II v Fear None I, 2.30 pm

Fear None II v Ven­tures II, 4.40 pm

Fear None I v Notre Dame, 7 pm

Men's Pool A

Notre Dame v Malvern, 1.40 pm

Petrotrin v Notre Dame, 6.20 pm

Men's Pool B

Fa­ti­ma v Paragon, 3.50 pm

De­fence Force v Fa­ti­ma, 8.30 pm

Vet­er­ans

De­fence Force v Fa­ti­ma, 3.10 pm

Queen's Park v St Mar­tin, 5.30 pm

Scores

Women's Di­vi­sion

Ven­tures I 2 (Yese­nia Luces 2) v Ven­tures II 1 (Anya Sealy)

Paragon 18 (Kristin Thomp­son 6, Rolan­da Cuffy-Bernard 4, Danielle Thomp­son 2, Avion Ash­ton 2, Keima Gar­diner, Alan­na Lewis, Arielle Williams, Niki­ta Cud­joe) v Fear None I 2 (Ash­ley Jones, Chelsea Davis)

Notre Dame 7 (Blair Wynne 4, Arielle Du Ques­nay 2) v Fear None II 6 (L Schott 4, M Spring­mey­er, L Mc Cormick)

Men's Pool B

De­fence Force 6 (Shane Leg­ger­ton 3, Mar­cus James 2, Mick­ell Pierre) v Paragon 2 (T Bap­tiste, Syl Sin­nette)

Vet­er­ans

Notre Dame 5 (Scott Dop­son 3, Sel­wyn King 2) v St Mar­tin 4 (Gor­don Snow, Col­in Thomp­son 2, Paul Dijkoltz)