St Joseph's Convent, Fatima splash to water polo titles

ST JOSEPH'S Convent Port of Spain and Fatima College won the majority of titles when the Republic Bank ASATT National Secondary Schools Water Polo League concluded at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Couva, on March 15.

St Joseph's Convent and Fatima won three titles each. St Joseph's Convent were crowned the champions in the Under-14 girls, Under-16 girls and open girls categories, and Fatima reigned supreme in the Under-14 boys, Under-16 boys and open boys categories.

In the Under-14 boys final, Fatima sealed the title with an 18-3 win over St Mary's College. Christian Grant was the star on the attacking end for Fatima, scoring eight goals in the victory and Giovanni Felician-Moses netted five times. Micah Blackman-Mc Lean was the only St Mary's player to find the back of the net.

The Under-16 final between Fatima and Queen's Royal College (QRC) was a close contest, with the former escaping with a 13-12 win. Fatima were the stronger team in the first half, leading 7-4 at the break. QRC outscored Fatima in the second half 8-6, but it was not enough. Liam Chin Lee scored four times for Fatima and Luke Gibson was on target on five occasions for the Royalians.

Fatima were also made to work for their victory in the open boys category, defeating St Mary's 16-15. St Mary's had no answers for Jeremiah Henriques-Brown as the attacking force scored ten of Fatima's goals. Marc Anthony Hinds kept the "Saints" in the contest with five goals.

The girls open final between St Joseph's Convent and Holy Name Convent was a tight contest. Convent held an 8-6 advantage at halftime, before winning the match 13-10.

Alexis Avey scored four goals for St Joseph's Convent and bagging a hat-trick apiece for Holy Name were Mia Thomas and Melanie Valdez-Brown.

The schools also squared off in the Under-16 girls final. It was a more one-sided match this time around as St Joseph's Convent came away with a 21-7 victory. St Joseph's Convent opened up a commanding 12-3 lead at halftime thanks to four goals by Shauna Murphy. Murphy found the net twice in the third quarter to take her match tally to six and guide her school to the title. Valdez-Brown and Elin Stone both scored twice for Holy Name.

In the Under-14 girls, St Joseph's Convent finished ahead of Bishop Anstey High School.

The organisers would have been pleased to see the combined teams winning the Form One competitions.

The combined team of Trinity College and Diego Martin North Secondary copped the Form One boys category and St Francois Girls College and Providence won the Form One girls division. The combined schools are relatively new to the sport.