Nathaniel Perouse netted a hat-trick to lead Down D River to a convincing 4-1 defeat of Blackford Street in the final of the Monteco Creations and Santa Cruz Touring Team Beach Soccer Tournament at the picturesque Pueblo El Pao Sports Facility in Gasparillo, Santa Cruz, on Sunday.
Josh Isaac was the other player on target in addition to Perouse, who was named the “Most Valuable Player” of the tournament for Down D River, who walked away with the winner’s prize of $3,000 while Yohann Perouse got Blackford Street’s lone reply as they had to settle for the $1,000 runners-up prize.
Perouse (N), who was also the joint “Most Goals” awardee with Monteco’s Dasio, both with ten goals each, got his goals in the eighth, 20th and 30th minutes of the final which was contested over three ten-minute periods while Yohann Perouse scored in the 12th minute for Blackford Street.
Earlier on Sunday, Perouse (N) got all four goals to lead Down D River to an entertaining 4-3 semifinal defeat of Monteco with Dasio scoring a double, and Tomas, the other for the mostly-Venezuelan-born line-up.
In the other semifinal, Blackford Street and La Pastora drew 4-4 before Blackford Street earned a 3-2 penalty-shoot-out win.
Ezekiel Morris got a hat-trick, and Evian Mejias one for La Pastora in regulation time, while Blackford Street got a goal each from Jayden Charles, Kerry Daniel, Kaydon Marchan, and Perouse (Y) to send the match to the shoot-out where the latter prevailed.
Monteco collected the $500 third-placed prize thanks to their 6-2 whipping of La Pastora courtesy of a hat-trick from Cuchi and two from Dasio.
When the tournament kicked off two weeks ago, Down D River and La Pastora booked automatic spots in the semifinals after topping their respective round-robin groups.
Competing in a five-team Group A round-robin series, Down D River had wins over Top Dogs (2-1), Back Street (3-1), and Monteco (2-0) and drew 2-2 with Blackford Street to end with ten points, three ahead of Back Street who qualified for the quarterfinals.
Third and fourth-placed teams, Monteco and Blackford Street, will contest the preliminary round cross-over eliminators against the fourth and third-placed teams from Group B, Pipiol, and Calle Mitchell.
La Pastora was the lone team to end the first weekend of competition with a 100 per cent winning record after beating Pipiol (2-0), Gasparillo (1-0), and Calle Mitchell (2-0) for a maximum of nine points in Group B, five more than Gasparillo, and Calle Mitchell. Among the other sponsors were Carib Brewery and Angostura Limited.
Final round-robin standings
Group A
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Down D River 4 3 1 0 9 4 10
Back Street 4 2 1 1 5 5 7
Monteco 4 1 2 1 3 4 5
Blackford St 4 1 1 2 5 5 4
Top Dogs 4 0 1 3 2 6 1
Group B
La Pastora 3 3 0 0 5 0 9
Gasparillo 3 1 1 1 5 3 4
Calle Mitchell 3 1 1 1 2 3 4
Pipiol 3 0 0 3 1 7 0
Results
Sunday
Final
Down D River 4 (Nathaniel Perouse 3, Josh Isaac) vs Black Ford Street 1 (Yohann Perouse)
Semifinals
Down D River 4 (Nathaniel Perouse 4) vs Monteco 2 (Dasio 2, Tomas)
La Pastora 4 (Ezekiel Morris 3, Evian Mejias) vs Blackford Street 4 (Jayden Charles, Kerry Daniel, Kaydon Marchan, Yohann Perouse) - Black Ford Sreet won 3-2 on penalty-kicks
Third place:
Monteco 6 (Cuchi 3, Dasio 2, own goal) vs La Pastora 2 (Ezekiel Morris 2)
Saturday
Playoff
Eliminator:
Monteco 2 (Tomas, Dasio) vs Pipiol 1 (Cassim)
Blackford Street 3 (Kashma Mitchell, Kerry Daniel, Jayden Charles) vs Calle Mitchell 1 (Tobas)
Quarterfinals:
Gasparillo 2 (Lindell Sween 2) vs Monteco 2 (Dasio 2) - Monteco won 4-3 on penalty-kicks
Blackford Street 2 (Kerry Daniel, Jayden Charles) vs Back Street 1 (A. Smith)
Individual awards:
Most Goals: Nathaniel Perouse (Down D River) & Dasio (Monteco) - 10 goals
Most Valuable Player: Nathaniel Perouse (Down D River)
