Hikers Divas defeated the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Spartans 2-1 in their women’s divisional showdown when the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB)/Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) National Indoor Hockey Championships opened at the National Gymnasium on Monday.
Gabriella Xavier opened the scoring from the penalty spot for the Bourda based following an infraction in the area. Stepping up to take the penalty strike, Xavier lashed her effort powerful to the right sided corner to be the diving Jonella Webster. Hikers would level proceedings in the ninth minute through an Amanda Garnett strike from the left side of the arc, after collecting a perfectly played pass from outside the centre of the area by Marissa Rodrigues.
The lead and eventual win would be realised one minute later as Avonda James found the back of the net with a cheeky turn and finish from the right side of the woodwork after latching onto a Janella Munroe pass from the same side.
In other results, Hikers led by a Robert France double in the second and 12th minutes and a Randy Hope 24th minute effort edged GCC 3-2 in their first division showdown. Kevin Spencer and Orland Semple netted for the losers in the 18th and 34th minutes respectively.
Old Fort led by braces from Timothy Baker in the 21st and 27th minutes and Shaquille Thomas in the 17th and 28th minutes mauled Saints 5-1 in their second division fixture.
Richard Thomas netted a 29th minute effort in the victory. Scoring for the losers in the 20th minute was Paramanand Dindial.
In the second female divisional fixture, Hikers Revelations thumped relative newcomers Old Fort Heats 9-0. Hat tricks by Tekeisha DeLeon in the ninth, 10th and 33rd minutes and Latacia Chung in the seventh, 31st and 32nd minutes led the assault.
Completing the score line was Charlyn Elliot with a double in the fourth and 24th minutes and Nicole Eastman in the 26th minutes. Hikers continued their dominant showing throughout the event, crushing GCC 8-3 in their second division fixture.
Aroydy Branford led the winners with a hat trick in the 13th, 26th and 28th minutes while Trayon Younge, Leon Bacchus, Jamarj Assanah, Reginald Harper and Michael Harding netted in the fifth, 11th, 17th, 24th and 30th minutes respectively.
On target in a losing cause were Eric Hing, Kareem McKenzie and S. Xavier in the 15th, 22nd and 23rd minutes correspondingly.
In the opening fixture, Hikers edged Old Fort 5-3 compliments of a Devin Munroe hat trick in the fourth, seventh and 20th minutes. He was assisted by Sheldon Corlette and Brian Asregado in the 13th and 22nd minutes respectively.
Netting for the losers were Dwayne Alleyne, Ian Nicholson and Dexter Wyles in the eighth, ninth and 19th minutes respectively.
Action continues on today (Wednesday) at the same venue with six matchups. The feature first division matchups will see Hikers taking on Cadets at 19:30hrs and Old Fort tackling the old enemy GCC at 20:20hrs.
In the ladies division, Hikers Divas will oppose Old Fort Heats at 17:30hrs while Hikers Revelations will face off with GCC Tigers at 18:10hrs.
The veteran’s division will see Hikers locking horns with Old Fort 18:50hrs while Hikers and GCC will complete the evening’s matches when they do battle at 21:10hrs.
