ST MONICA'S Preparatory School copped the first title of the 2024 Republic Bank National Primary Schools Mini Polo League at the Diego Martin community pool on June 8 when they got an exciting 8-7 win over Dunross Preparatory School in the final of the junior female category.
After trading a win apiece in the first two matches of their best-of-three final series, the St Monica's girls had the last say when they came out victorious in the 15-goal thriller in game three.
St Monica's held a slender 2-0 lead at the half, but Dunross scored a whopping six goals in the third quarter to surge ahead with a 6-5 lead heading into the final quarter after Jordyn Calder rattled in a beaver-trick. Critically, St Monica's outscored their opponents by three goals to one in the final period to clinch the title.
Alyssa Salandy led St Monica's charge, and she scored four of her five goals in the second half to see off the Dunross challenge. Three other St Monica's players scored a goal apiece.
St Monica's and Dunross will also vie for the junior male and senior female titles this coming weekend, and the youngsters from the former school warmed up for their respective finals by scoring an avalanche of goals in their last preliminary matches on Saturday. In the junior male category, St Monica's got a jaw-dropping 22-0 win against Manta Ray Combined School, with their schoolmates racking up a 13-9 win over Diamond Vale Government in the senior female category. St Monica's also got the better of Manta Ray in the senior male category with an impressive 13-4 win.
In St Monica's onslaught against Manta Ray in the junior male category, Liam Rogers led the demolition with seven goals, with Ryan Camacho and Christian Grant scoring four goals apiece. Rogers also scored four goals against the Manta Ray team in the senior male category.
The girls from St Monica's were pushed a little harder in their senior female clash with Diamond Vale, and a five-goal performance from Mia Dolsingh helped them overturn an early 4-2 deficit to get the 13-9 win. Romaya Pierre also bagged a hat-trick for the free-scoring St Monica's. In the other fixture, Diamond Vale got a 10-5 victory over Dunross in the senior male category in a dress rehearsal for their clash in the final.
Israel Wickham tore the Dunross defence to shreds as he scored seven goals.
On the final day of competition, the Dunross youngsters will hope to defy Diamond Vale and St Monica's and swim away with three titles.
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