T&T’s 19-and-Under Water Polo women took gold in the CARIFTA Water Polo Championships after a brilliant 3-1 come-from-behind victory over regional rivals Jamaica in the best-of-five series, held at the National Stadium Pool in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday. Smarting from a narrow 10-9 loss to the Jamaicans on the opening day, T&T responded with series-levelling 12-4 win on the same day, before taking two more straight wins, 10-3 on Saturday morning and 6-4 in the evening’s closing fixture.
Despite a relatively low scoring encounter (6-4) in the title winning match, T&T, led by technical director Adam Foley, did well with a good individual performance from Anya Welch, who netted a hat-trick. Nicol Olliverre scored two goals, with the other item coming from Lily Stauble. The match followed a more comfortable 10-3 win for the Trinidadians, which again was masterminded by an onslaught from Welch, who scored five, as well as Tianna Joseph and Jordan van Reeken, who scored three and two goals, respectively. T&T began the brighter side, and left the pool with a 1-0 lead at the half, with Welch bagging the opener.
Jamaica returned in the second quarter with intent and got the equaliser with less than a minute on the clock. The two teams were neck and neck, with T&T, again taking the lead through Welch, shortly before Jamaica found its second leveler. T&T, however, managed a third, through van Reeken, which was enough to see the team close out the half with a narrow 3-2 advantage. To the delight of the home support, Jamaica found its third equalising goal early after the second half commenced. The goal, however, prompted an onslaught from the Polo Princesses which retook the lead, again from Joseph, before she found another goal, with Welch and van Reeken, raking up one each to return leading 7-3, with one quarter remaining. The Jamaican women could utter very little in response, as T&T went on to control the match until the end. Welch scored another two goals, before Joseph rounded of an exciting T&T win, in the final period of the morning fixture. T&T was as equally convincing in the second match, which they took 12-4.
In that encounter, which saw T&T level the series 1-1, Welch scored five goals, while van Reeken and Joseph scored four and three goals, respectively. The 19-and-Under Male Team, meanwhile, continued its impressive winning streak by taking the third match of the double round robin, 15-8 over Curaçao. The Alan Too-A-Foo coached team was forced to omit three starting players due to injury. Ryan West scored four; Kieron Emmanuel and Andrew Chin Lee scored three apiece. Marc Stauble bagged a double, while Jonathan Gillette,, Andrew Clarke and Johann Callender rounded off the scoring with one each. Last evening, in the final day of competition, the 15-and-Under Boy’s team was to contest for the gold medal, after the 19-and-Under Men took to the pool in the morning period. Both teams were up against the home team, Jamaica.
Source: www.guardian.co.tt