THERE was a hat-trick of three-peats on Finals Day in the Banks International Hockey Festival yesterday, as A Badd Connection (ABC) Women, Sentry Security Rockets’ Mixed squad and Mount Gay Maple Veterans each powered to their third straight title at Kensington Oval.
Maple coasted in the first showdown of the day, dispatching Queen’s Park Cricket Club of Trinidad and Tobago 5-0, but Rockets and ABC were taken to the wire before both prevailed on the nerve-jangling penalty stroke shootout.
Rockets needed a Mark Murray equalizer two minutes from the end of regulation time to earn a 2-2 draw with Dominion before prevailing 3-1 on penalties.
ABC also had to battle back from a goal down twice against Old Gold Roosters in a high-quality final before drawing 2-2. They held their nerve in the shootout to win 3-0 and bag their seventh title (1998, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011).
Roosters had taken a lead in the seventh minute through a slick finish from Cher King, who dived to slot home from a narrow angle.
King was the star as Roosters had the slightly better of a competitive first half but ABC clawed their way back to parity when Dionne Clarke slammed home from a penalty corner a minute before the interval.
King restored Roosters’ lead eight minutes after the restart with another fine goal, following up on her own rebound to slam home from the right side.
But ABC responded to the pressure well and dominated the final 20 minutes of the match.
Clarke added her second in the 57th minute to make it 2-2, working a penalty corner one-two with Maria Sealy before clinically flicking past the goalkeeper.
ABC were rampant after that as Keisha Jordan terrorized the Roosters’ defence with a series of marauding runs.
But they could not find a way through in regulation.
They were more efficient in the penalty strokes as Clarke fittingly netted the winner after Maria Sealy and Kzeia Jones netted. The Roosters were disappointing as Trish-Ann Greaves, Carol Whiteman and Reyna Farnum could not convert.
Rockets also had to battle back against Dominion in the mixed showdown which only really sprung to life in the second half after a goalless opening period Shrimattee Ault slapped home at the far post to give Dominion a 1-0 lead after 42 minutes.
But Rockets responded through Rohan “Teno” Thomas ten minutes later.
Dominion thought they had hit the winner through Keisha Jordan’s crisp strike in the 56th minute. But Rockets pressed hard in the final ten minutes and were rewarded when Murray blasted a penalty corner home.
Goalkeeper Corey Reece then did an efficient job in stonewalling Dominion’s flickers to give Rockets
the trophy again.The men’s final, between All Stars of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago’s Queen’s Park was played later last night.
Final results:
Veterans
• Maple 5 (Venslough Leacock 2, Roger Gibson, Emmerson Phillips, Revelino Simmons), Queen’s Park Cricket Club 0.
Mixed
• Rockets 2 (Rohan Thomas 53rd, Mark Murray 68th), Dominion 2 (Shrimattee Ault 42nd, Keisha Jordan 56th) (Rockets won 3-1 on penalty strokes)
Women
• A Badd Connection 2 (Dionne Clarke 2 – 34th & 57th), Old Gold Roosters 2 (Cher King 2 – 7th and 43rd) (ABC won 3-0 on penalty strokes).
