Knights, Dragons take home hardware

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DRAGONS FINISH FIRST: The Lyford Cay International School Dragons closed out the Government High School Magic to prevail as the Samuel P Haven Jr high schools soccer nationals champions.

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GIRLS RUNNER-UPS: The senior girls of the Bishop Michael Eldon School Warriors finished second at the high schools soccer nationals after falling short to the CR Walker Knights.

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THIRD PLACE FINISHERS: The Queen’s College Comets finished third at the Samuel P Haven Jr High School Nationals this past weekend. Photos: Tenajh Sweeting

By TENAJH SWEETING

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Samuel P Haven Jr National High School Soccer Championships commenced from May 19-27 to see which school would take home the championship hardware after more than one week of soccer action.

The teams of the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) took on the teams of the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) to make for some competitive matchups.

After multiple rounds of soccer, the GSSSA’s CR Walker Lady Knights wrapped up the nationals as champions.

Additionally, the senior boys of Lyford Cay International School (LCIS) secured the nationals win for the Dragons.

Finals

The CR Walker Lady Knights wrapped up the Bishop Michael Eldon School Warriors 1-0 to seal the finals win for the school. The Lady Knights came off a tough week of competition as they competed four days, including back-to-back days, to earn their GSSSA championship win.

The game between the dominant Knights and Grand Bahama’s team was evenly matched in the first half of play as no team was able to score a goal.

However, the Lady Knights finally scored their first goal of the game and kept the Warriors scoreless as a result of some tough defence.

The brilliant showing by their defence along with the tenacity of the Knights goalkeeper Raynia Russell lead to the team completing a clean sheet. No team was able to score a goal against the Lady Knights at last week’s nationals or GSSSA championships. Russell’s prowess as a goalkeeper did not go unnoticed, she was awarded as the golden glove winner for the school.

“I am very excited. I know once you have confidence, do your best you put it all on the field. I thank my teammates for getting back and trying their best to help as we played throughout the whole week” the goalkeeper said.

Although the Lady Knights appeared hobbled after a grueling week of soccer matchups they can now celebrate as the 2023 GSSSA soccer champions and winners of the Samuel P Haven Jr soccer nationals.

Tia Rolle, head coach of the Lady Knights, talked about the impressive showing from the team. The coach said the game plan was to reserve their energy and after scoring a goal they would defend their own. She said the team was definitely tired after competing at 11 games in three weeks in addition to two championship games which were a longer duration than the regular season games. She added that the keys were defense and team chemistry as the girls gave it all they had while proving to be true champions.

The Warriors wrapped up the competition in second with their Edisa Bain taking home Most Valuable Player for the girls and claiming the golden boot honors after finishing with five goals.

The senior boys of the Lyford Cay International School (LCIS) quelled the momentum of the Government High School (GHS) Magic. GHS looked to collect another trophy to pair alongside their 2023 GSSSA championship earned earlier last week. However, the Dragons came out on top and defeated the team 1-0. The lone goal for the team was scored by Dragons’ Xavier Dupuch late into the second half of the game. Despite an anticlimactic finish for the Magic, they capped off the high school nationals in second place and Peter Tilusnord was awarded as one of the golden boot winners with three goals.

LCIS’ Michael Massey took home Most Valuable Player honors and his teammate Vance Wheaton was awarded the Golden Glove winner.

Phil Carroll, head coach of the Dragons, talked about the finals win for the school.

“We felt that we were in control of the game for the most part credit to the opposition because they were managing to keep us out of the goal, and were offering a big threat on the counter attack as well,” he said.

Carroll said despite the quickness of GHS he felt that his team was managing the game well. He added that the Dragons were prepared for the physical game because the local teams bring a lot of intensity and passion but he told the boys to stand up to it. Overall, he said it felt great and he was proud of them despite the end of the game he felt the opposition deserved more for their effort up to that point.

Third place

The QC Comets secured third place in the competition after defeating the senior girls of the LCIS Dragons 3-2 after a penalty shootout.

Alexis Williamson, who played a big role in helping the Comets to advance was given the opportunity to serve as the team’s head coach in their final game and her final year at the school.

The team captain talked about the Comets win for third place at the 2023 high schools soccer nationals.

“It feels great yesterday we had a setback because I got injured but I am glad that my team stepped up and that they were able to come third. We wanted to come first but we did our best and I am very proud of my team,” Williamson said.

For the boys, the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves took down the Lucaya International School (LIS) Buccaneers 2-1. The Timberwolves two goals were scored by Tommy Valburn and Guenson Belvy to claim third place in the competition.

Oliver Lynch, head coach of the Timberwolves, talked about the victory. He said the team got off to a shaky start due to some rainy weather earlier in the day that affected their warmups. The coach said the team started out flat as LIS got out to a 1-0 lead. However, his team was able to score two more goals in the game and defend their goal for the win.