[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t was a thrilling finish to the 2018 Corporate Warfare Futsal competition on Saturday at the Beausejour Indoor Facility, and in the end was St Lucia Teachers Cooperative who emerged champions.
Playing in their first ever final, St Lucia Teachers Cooperative pulled out all the stops on their way to a 3-2 win over Ministry of Infrastructure.
Kamali Charlemagne gave the Ministry of Infrastructure the advantage by netting in the 11th minute of play. Three minutes before the half, Nehemiah Wilfred got the equalizer for St Lucia Teachers Cooperative as the half ended 1 – 1.
On the resumption of play, the Teachers Cooperative went ahead with a goal by Jacob Dupre in the 22nd minute, only for the Ministry to equalize with a goal by Petrus Gustave in the 29th minute.
However, in the 45th minute Kirby Felix sealed the issue with the winner thus landing St Lucia Teachers Cooperative the championship trophy and medals plus $3,000.00, following their 3 – 2 victory.
The Ministry of Infrastructure had to settle for the second place trophy, medals and $1,500.00.
For St Lucia Teachers Cooperative Coach, Rohan Lubon it was his second time experiencing a championship. The first was with the St Lucia Teachers Union and now with the Teachers Cooperative.
Commenting on the final he said: “I had a lot of confidence in my team and they had a lot of confidence in themselves. We trained hard, not as much as we would have liked to. It was all about self believe and playing until the end. Like I have always said to my players, it is not over until it’s over. It is pure determination and all we simply had to do was just listen to instructions given, play to the structure to the formation that we practiced and defensively maintain our shift. Once we did that I was confident we could pull it off.”
In the third place playoff that preceded the final was a high scoring affair between Sandals La Toc and Small Business Owners. In the end La Toc came on top 7-6. Their win was due to a hatrick scored by Melvin Aurelien in the 5th, 30th and 37th minute, and braces by leading goal scorer Ferguson St Claire in the 22nd and 32nd minute
and Ravi Wilfred in the third and 32nd minute.
Small Business Owners got their goals from Sylvanus Mann with a hat trick in the 17th, 28th and 29th minute, a brace by Elias Maxius in the 23rd and 33rd minute and Robert Emanus in the 38th minute.
Referring to the competition, Co-founder of Time Out Entertainment, Lionel John said: “I found the tournament very, very exciting this year. We have been doing this for four years and it has grown from strength to strength. This year has been the best by far in terms of attendance, quality of play and understanding of what futsal is all about. I must say hats off to all the teams who competed in the tournament this year. We stretched them out. We had 81 games this time around which is way more than we usually have.”
John also announced that in March will be the formation of a Champions Cup where the main prize is $4,000 and second place $2,000.
The following Awards were presented at the conclusion of the tournament. Golden Glove Alex Joseph, $300.00, trophy and Massy Vouchers; Most Goals, Ferguson St Claire, $300.00 trophy, phone compliments Digicel plus a 30 day LTE Freedom Plan and three months Free Play Go subscription; Finals MVP, Nehemiah Wilfred, $300.00, trophy and $200.00 Massy Vouchers.
