The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

Four teams remain in the hunt for the 2024 Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) junior girls and boys soccer championships.

The sudden death playoffs got underway with the HO Nash Lions and Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves picking up victories against the DW Davis Royals and LW Young Golden Eagles respectively in the junior girls’ division yesterday at the Roscow AL Davies Soccer Field.

The SC McPherson Sharks downed the AF Adderley Tigers while the Timberwolves defeated the Royals in the junior boys’ division.

Junior Girls

The Lady Timberwolves secured a dominant 3-0 victory against the Golden Eagles yesterday. The team had to fight through some playoff jitters to start the game but were able to regain their composure to advance to the championships.

Head coach Cleon Carnegie talked about the team regrouping in order to advance. “It started out rough. They were nervous and some girls were crying but I reminded them that it is a game and they should go and enjoy it. In training, I saw them do well and do the right things but sometimes when they come out here and see the spectators they get a little nervous. I reminded them that they had the ability to do well based on what I saw in training and that it is still a game and after that they were laughing and smiling. Once I saw that, I knew they were gonna do good,” he said.

Misha Joseph, Nisha Joseph and Drexline Raphael all scored one goal apiece to propel the team to the finals.

Next up for the third seeded Timberwolves will be the pennant winners HO Nash, who handed them a tough loss during the regular season.

Coach Carnegie remained tight-lipped on his strategy for the next game but is looking to make some slight adjustments going into the last stage of competition.

“We will have a training session before that game to do some specific things. We want to do some of what we did here that worked and improve on some of the things we needed to fix from this game,” coach Carnegie said.

The Lions did not give the Royals a fighting chance in their junior girls matchup. The pennant winners overwhelmed the fourth seeded team 4-0.

Georgia McPhee sank two goals to the back of the net for the victors. Victoria Noel along with Andrea Sears pitched in the other two.

Junior Boys

The SC McPherson Sharks waved goodbye to the first seeded AF Adderley Tigers with a 3-0 upset.

Garth Davis, head coach of the Sharks, was happy to see the team knock off the pennant winners.

“It is a good feeling seeing that we were the fourth seeded team and to have made it to the championship is an achievement,” he said.

The coach shed some light on the team’s objective going into the championship round.

“Our aim is to always encourage team play. Each person must look out for each other and once we work as a team, be consistent and share the ball we will achieve our objective,” he said.

The Timberwolves are the only junior team with a chance to sweep the junior division after beating the Royals 1-0.

The boys got a game-winning goal from Khaleb Valbrun against the Royals to clinch a spot in the championships.

Championship matchups will be played on Friday.

The senior schools will be in action today at the same venue beginning at 3:45pm.