By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

Soccer clubs from the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) and Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) gave it all they had at the 2024 Samuel P Haven Jr High School Soccer Nationals, but the last two teams standing would be Windsor High School and the Lyford Cay International Dragons.

Windsor stunned the Anatol Rodgers Timber- wolves, pulling off the 4-2 upset victory over the GSSSA team in penalties at the Roscow A L Davies Soccer Field in the boys’ championship showdown on Friday.

The Lady Dragons overwhelmed the St Andrew’s Hurricanes 7-0 to be crowned the girls’ national high school soccer champions.

In the third place match-ups, the CR Walker Lady Knights would have their way against the Bishop Michael Eldon (BMES) Warriors 2-0 to wrap up the tournament third overall.

The Dragons overcame the Lucaya International Buccaneers 3-2 to cement their club as the third best national high school team in the boys’ division.

Windsor vs Anatol Rodgers

Windsor fielded a boys high school team for the first time at the Samuel P Haven Jr High School Soccer Nationals and it was truly all they needed.

It was a tough championship game between the tournament’s top teams and it was highly competitive from the opening kick-off.

The defenders from both teams made it difficult to score a goal, leaving the score knotted at 0-0 going into the second half. The teams would have at it again and with the game’s intensity increasing, Windsor was awarded a penalty kick.

The newly crowned champions failed to capitalise on the penalty kick thanks to Anatol’s goalkeeper Watdley Lozier. However, Windsor’s Kai Perez stayed on the attack and launched the ball past Anatol’s defenders to put the team up 1-0.

Ronaldo Green, head coach of Windsor, said it was “evident” that his team would win the game.

“It was evident that we were gonna win. I think Anatol is a strong team but our team was well coached and well prepared to win the game,” he said.

The Timberwolves refused to go down without a fight as Mckenzie Chery fired the ball from the left side of the penalty area to score the equaliser with the less than two minutes remaining in regulation.

The game went into extra time and coach Green made the tactical decision to switch goalkeepers, in anticipation of the penalty shootout, which paid divi- dends in the end.

Windsor went on to win the penalties 4-2 to clinch the national title.

“Our team is quite young. I think we did a great job. Going into the game, Anatol were a bit rougher, faster and stronger but my team is a bit more technical. We did our job and brought the trophy home,” coach Green said.

Perez was awarded as the Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Anatol’s goalkeeper Lozier took home the Golden Glove honours and Chery was given the Golden Boots trophy.

Lyford Cay vs St Andrew’s

It was a battle of the East and West soccer clubs but it would be the Lady Dragons hauling the girls’ national trophy to the western side of the island in the end.

Lyford Cay asserted their dominance early against the Hurricanes who had not scored a single in-game goal in the tournament. The Dragons went up 4-0 before the halftime break and Issa Bournas was once again electric on the turf.

She scored her first of four goals at the 14th minute and followed it up with another at the 27th minute. For her initial goal, she got the edge on a St Andrew’s defender and launched the ball from just outside the penalty area. On her second attempt, she dribbled past three defenders to walk right into a goal and put the team up 4-0.

Co-head coaches Annisa Albury and Sara Ilgenfritz were grateful to see the Lady Dragons accomplish their goal for the season.

“We set out from the beginning of the season to do this. This group of girls are amazing. Last year, when we fell short we had a bunch of girls who came out for the national tournament and they showed up again this year. They have been the heart and soul of our team and it’s just been an amazing road to get here. Every single step of the way this has been our destination so it feels really good to complete what we said we were gonna do,” Ilgenfritz said.

According to coach Albury they were familiar with the Hurricanes and their style of play which gave them more confidence.

“We played St Andrew’s in the regular season and then in the quarter-finals. We knew what we were going up against but we knew they were gonna come out hard. The mindset was just we’re comfortable and we can do this and it was just fantastic,” Albury said.

Bournas was selected as the MVP and Golden Boots winner.

Her teammate Lilian Haynes received the Golden Glove trophy. The group now intends

to celebrate with a motorcade.

Third place

The Lady Knights were eliminated a bit earlier than expected at the High School Soccer Nationals but were determined to at least finish in the top three and they did.

Valtinique Simmons managed to put the team up 1-0 at halftime and Lyric Saunders followed it up with a goal of her own in the second half to knock off the BMES Warriors.

Coach Dan Weightman said losing to the Lady Dragons in the semifinals gave his players motivation headed into the third place match.

“The girls lost yesterday in the semis in a very close and well-played game. It is very hard to play a third place game after that because you gotta get the emotions back up but these girls really came together as a team and said today is gonna be our day,” he said.

Coach Weightman added that they are looking for- ward to bouncing back next year.

“They played as a team and our goal scorers really came through today with some fantastic finishes. Hats off to our goalie. She made a lot of quality saves and got the clean sheet. It is great to end the season on a winning note and we are looking forward to coming back next year,” he said.

Although Lyford Cay would have loved to have two teams celebrating championship victories, the boys team would have to settle for the third place this year.

The Dragons held off the Buccaneers 3-2 in a matchup that came down to the wire.

Head coach Phil Carroll said this was a rebuilding year but he is proud of the group nonetheless.

“It was a stronger performance than what we put in last night as a group. We showed a bit more confidence and composure. It is a young squad as we lost nine 12th graders last year so this was a rebuild basically. We have a lot of eighth and ninth graders in this group so this bodes well for the future. It was a year of progression and rebuilding but I am proud of this group,” he said.

The Bahamas Football Association (BFA) extended a special thanks to the Ministry of Education, Minister of Education Glenys Hanna-Martin as well as the staff members, teams and supporters of all schools that participated in this year’s national soccer tournament.