Police and Malvern recorded contrasting wins to join defending champions Queen’s Park Cricket Club and last year’s runners-up Defence Force as the four semifinal qualifiers in the T&T Hockey Board Indoor Championship Men’s Open Division at the Woodbrook Youth Facility on Saturday night.
The Lawmen got a hat-trick from national forward Akim Toussaint (3rd, 27th, 40th) and two from fellow international Jordan Reynos (3rd, 33rd) in a 9-1 hammering of Fatima to improve to a 3-0-3 record in the seven-team round-robin series with nine points, level with Paragon but with a superior goal-difference of plus-22 to their rivals’ plus-ten.
The quartet of Solomon Eccles, Roger Daniel, Wayne Legerton and Nicholas Grant, a combination of current and past national players, also added a goal each for Police while Alexi Mohammed got Fatima’s goal in the 20th minute.
Earlier in a winner-take-all clash, T&T international Kristien Emmanuel’s hat-trick earned Malvern a come-from-behind 3-2 triumph over Paragon.
Paragon looked set to claim a win and cement a top-four round-robin spot when Joel Daniel opened the scoring in the first minute, followed by Tariq Singh’s field goal in the 14th for a 2-0 lead.
However, Emmanuel turned things around for Malvern with goals in the 30th, 33rd and 36th minutes to push his team to 12 points from their six matches, one behind Defence Force who met winless Shape in their final match last night (Sunday) ahead of the November 2 playoffs.
The Parkites, who slipped to third with ten points, still have a match left against winless Fatima on Friday (October 25) and can finish second with a win or even first if Shape can beat Defence Force.
Also on Saturday in the Women’s Open, Brianna Govia scored twice to lead Shandy Carib Magnolias to a 6-2 spanking of Malvern and ensure the top seeding spot ahead of the semifinals on November 1.
Savannah De Freitas fired Magnolias ahead in the second minute while Elise Olton (8th) and Kimberly Wellington (14th) made it 3-0. Kherdine Gonzales trimmed the lead for Malvern in the 25th but Govia quickly restored Magnolias’ cushion in the 26th. Gonzales then got a second for Malvern to trail 4-2 before Govia (36th) and Amie Olton (40th) added a goal each to make certain of victory for Magnolias.
With the win, Magnolias moved to 13 points from five matches, four clear of Malvern, with a match left for each club, while Paragon are next with three points from four matches and title-holders Ventures are last with a point.
In the Trinity Men’s Division, Selwyn King banged in a beaver-trick for Notre Dame in an 8-4 victory over Police for their third win from as many matches. Notre Dame moved to nine points, level with Queen’s Park, who have played five matches, and three adrift of Carib, who have played four matches, on the six-team table.
Shandy Carib Magnolias also advanced straight to the women’s Under-19 final after beating Paragon 3-1 and Raiders 2-1 in their final two matches to end with ten points from four matches, three more than Paragon, who meet Raiders in the lone semifinal on October 27.
In the Boys’ Under-19 competition, Paragon and Malvern remained locked at the top with seven points each after a 6-6 draw in their meeting. They are point ahead of Fatima with one match remaining for the trio.
Queen’s Park will be the fourth team in the boys’ semifinals after blanking Notre Dame 5-0.
Matches will continue on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday at Woodbrook until the finals on November 3.
Weekend results:
Sunday
UNDER-19 BOYS
Malvern 6 (Aidan Marcano 23rd, 30th, 39th, Sheldon Phillip 6th, Tyrese Benjamin 18th, Shawn Phillip 26th) v Paragon 6 (Christian John 21st, 37th, Tariq Singh 6th, Daniel Mc Kie 11th, Joel Daniel 16th, Kalebh Quashie 34th)
QPCC 5 (Justin Day 5th, 39th, Alexander Rowe 8th, Ethan Reynos 36th, Jordan Weekes 37th) v Notre Dame 0
UNDER-19 GIRLS
SC Magnolias 2 (Toni Campbell 4th, 11th) v Raiders 1 (Zahara De La Rosa 19th)
MIXED VETERANS
Fatima 7 (Alan Young 2nd, 18th, 22nd, 31st, Derek Lee 9th, Colin Young 15th, Keith Nieves 36th) v Defence Force 4 (Gerrard Ferguson 4th, 6th, 25th, Sherbert Mc Kie 9th)
Saturday:
TRINITY MEN
Notre Dame 8 (Selwyn King 1st, 12th, 13th, 31st, Danil Trancoso 21st, 27th, Lorenzo Lodai 8th, Chad Pedro 23rd) v Police 4 (Ryan Rambaran 3rd, Gary Ferguson 10th, Kerwyn Hume 30th, Nicholas Wren 40th)
MIXED VETERANS
Malvern 12 (Korry Barnett 4th, 6th, 27th, 30th, Kecia Hosein 26th, 29th, 29th, 32nd Damian Gordon 13th, 39th, Andrea Jackson 18th, 26th) v Fatima 1 (Timothy Rambaran 8th)
MEN’S OPEN
Malvern 3 (Kristien Emmanuel 30th, 33rd, 36th) v Paragon 2 (Joel Daniel 1st, Tariq Singh 14th)
Police 9 (Akim Toussaint 8th, 27th, 40th, Jordan Reynos 3rd, 33rd, Solomon Eccles 8th, Roger Daniel 35th, Wayne Legerton 37th, Nicholas Grant 39th) v Fatima 1 (Alexi Mohammed 20th)
WOMEN’S OPEN
SC Magnolias 6 (Brianna Govia 26th, 36th, Savannah De Freitas 2nd, Elise Olton 8th, Kimberly Wellington 14th, Amie Olton 40th) v Malvern 2 (Kherdine Gonzales 25th, 32nd)
Current standings:
Men’s Open Div
Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
Defence Force*5*4*1*0*34*14*13
Malvern*6*4*0*2*31*27*12
QPCC*5*3*1*1*26*15*10
Police*6*3*0*3*40*18*9
Paragon*6*3*0*3*24*14*9
Fatima*4*0*0*4*6*32*0
Shape*4*0*0*4*7*48*0
Women’s Open Div
SC Magnolias*5*4*1*0*22*8*13
Malvern*5*3*0*2*15*15*9
Paragon*4*1*0*3*6*15*3
Ventures*4*0*1*3*9*14*1
Trinity Men Div
Carib*4*4*0*0*24*6*12
Notre Dame*3*3*0*0*22*8*9
QPCC*5*3*0*2*26*13*9
Police*4*1*0*3*17*24*3
Malvern*3*1*0*2*7*16*3
Fatima*5*0*0*5*4*33*0
Trinity Women Div
Harvard*3*3*0*0*16*6*9
Police*2*1*0*1*3*7*3
Notre Dame*3*0*0*3*8*14*0
Mixed Veterans Div
Malvern*4*4*0*0*36*8*12
Police*3*3*0*0*25*6*9
Notre Dame*3*2*0*1*24*23*6
QPCC*3*1*0*2*11*12*3
Fatima*5*1*0*4*19*39*3
Defence Force*4*0*0*4*12*35*0
Under-19 Girls’ Div
SC Magnolias*4*3*1*0*12*7*10
Paragon*4*2*1*1*17*10*7
Raiders*4*0*0*4*7*19*0
Under-19 Boys’ Div
Paragon*3*2*1*0*44*12*7
Malvern*3*2*1*0*34*9*7
Fatima*3*2*0*1*26*10*6
QPCC*3*1*0*2*8*13*3
Notre Dame*4*0*0*4*7*75*0