Hikers’ juniors finish fourth in U-16 category

Apr 12, 2009 Sports

-Assanah voted MVP

Shaquelle Assanah

Despite securing the Most Valuable Player of the Under-16 category award through the consistent performances of Shaquelle Assanah, Hikers juniors ended fourth in the Trinidad and Tobago Hockey Board (TTBH) 9th annual Easter Youth Tournament, currently being played in the Twin Island Republic.
After finishing as runners-up in their Pool, Hikers went down 1-3 to CIC in the third place playoff with Assanah, the lone goal-scorer.
The team which received a warm welcome on arrival on the island last Wednesday was the only international team in the competition and quickly got down to the business of competing on artificial turf for the first time.

Eight teams participated in the U-16 category which was divided into two pools with games lasting 15 minutes and no half-time. The visitors got off to a good start, in the first game of the day against St. Anthony’s College, who they defeated 2-0.
Ryan Primo opened the scoring in the first minute of the game after nudging the ball past goalkeeper. Leon Bacchus then sealed the issue about three minutes before the final whistle.
In their second encounter, Hikers and Fatima played to a nil-all draw after they failed to convert some clear chances.

The third game was against eventual winners Debe High School which boasted several U-18 and First Division players and they were edged by the hosts 1-0 in a keenly contested match.
The victors were just coming off a convincing 5-0 thrashing of Fatima, but it took some excellent work between the uprights from goalkeeper Osafa Timmerman to deny the champions further success on several occasions.
It was reported that Assanah played a strong game, but could not penetrate the strong defence of the opposition.

In the first semi-final, Hikers came up against SHAPE and even though they seemed to have recovered from their disappointing lost to Debe, they could not stop SHAPE from taking an early 1-0 advantage which remained that way until the end. Once again Assanah put in a strong show, supported by Travon Younge, but the opposing backline thwarted all their efforts.
In the playoff for third place against CIC, the team started overconfident, and paid the price, suffering two shock goals in quick succession. However, they partially rebounded with a ripper through Assanah to bring the team within one, down 1-2, but that was as far as they could reach as CIC netted another in the dying moments to seal a well-deserved 3-1 victory.

Meanwhile, the team is expected to have much tougher time in the U-21 division which was expected to be played yesterday.
Today, the team is scheduled to train with the TTHB Development Junior squads from 0:730 to 12:00 hrs. The team will also contest practice games today and tomorrow, to improve their exposure to the artificial turf.

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