Elite Strikers lived up to their name unleashing a force and counter attack,which led to victory against Soufriere in the finals of the 2013 Independence Netball Classic played recently at the Vigie Muti-Purpose Sports Complex.
Elite were in complete control in this one sided affair. They led 17-11 after the first quarter and 34-19 at the half. It was 54-26 at three quarter time and ended up 68-39.
Soufriere got a heavy dose of goal shoot Dedra Mathurin. The sharpshooter for Elite Strikers made 55 goals from 64 attempts, while goal attack Shem Maxwell connected on 13 goals from 20 attempts.
For Soufriere, goal shoot Jahvia Paul netted 27 goals from 43 attempts. Ianna Hippolyte was the next top goal getter making 10 goals from 15 attempts.
Coach of Elite Strikers, Alice Lynch, made it known that the team which consists of several national players is number one in St Lucia. Judging by the outcome of the final there is no room for argument. They are not only in a class but a school of their own here.
Lynch was pleased with the overall tournament but felt the umpiring for the most part was good, but noted some teams had issues with them.
Team Captain for Soufriere, Helena Renee Emmanuel, who was gracious in defeat said: “I feel pretty good. I felt our team could have scored more, we had a lot of attempts that we missed. All in all the girls fought hard and knew they were in for a very tough time facing a side with national players.”
Some feel it’s unfair going up against a team stacked with national players. However, Emmanuel feels there is nothing unfair about it and said “other teams just have to match up to them by practicing hard and training to be as competitive as they are.”
What’s next for the St Lucia National Netball Association? The 2013 Inter-District Netball Competition on May 18 at the Vigie Multi-Purpose Sports Complex.
All participating district netball teams are reminded that the deadline for submission of registration forms is May 11.
The 2013 National Under-23 Netball Squad has been called into training, in preparation for the 2013 ECCB sponsored OECS Under-23 Netball Tournament taking place in St John’s Antigua from July 6-12.
Comments are closed.