The Tribune

The junior portion of the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Sports (BAISS) Soccer Championships is officially in the books.

Both the Queen’s College Comets and St Andrew’s International School Hurricanes repeated as the junior girls’ and boys’ champions respectively yesterday at the Roscoe AL Davies (RALD) Soccer Field.

The Hurricanes triumphed 6-5 against Windsor School in the sudden death phase of the penalty shootout. For the junior girls, the Comets prevailed over the Lady Hurricanes 4-1, thwarting their chances of taking two titles to St Andrew’s International School.

Junior Boys

James Bowe, head coach of St Andrew’s, described the championship victory as fantastic.

“It feels fantastic. I have only been at the school since August. I know the boys won one last year but they lost a lot of players. We had a lot of new players this year but most of these boys are still gonna be junior age next year and hopefully we can make it a three-peat,” he said.

It was an electrifying showdown between the Hurricanes and Windsor at the RALD Soccer Field yesterday evening.

Both junior teams were hungry for the hardware but Windsor was the first to hit the back of the net in regulation.

Kaleb Holder scored the first goal for Windsor in the first half of the contest. Windsor was in charge of the game 1-0 at halftime.

The Hurricanes went scoreless until the final 10 minutes of regulation when St Andrew’s was called for a handball. Liam Bauer was successful on the penalty kick to level the score at 1-1.

St Andrew’s scored once again thanks to a header scored by Correl Davis. Shortly after, Windsor’s Aidan Goropse sank the ball to the back of the net from inside the penalty box area.

The score was locked at 2-2 but neither team was able to score a goal in the extra 10 minutes of play, prompting the penalty shootout. “I tried to stay calm so the boys could stay calm. It was a very close game and they got an early lead. We knew we had the capacity to fight back and we did which is fantastic. We got another goal and then they closed in again.

Going to 2-2, I thought we had a chance to score a goal in extra time but, when it went down to penalties, it could have gone either way. They clearly have some outstanding players but I am very proud of all of my boys for staying calm under pressure,” he said.

The Hurricanes and Windsor both were perfect in the penalty shootout which led to the score being knotted at 5-5 after five penalties.

In the sudden death, Windsor had an opportunity to seal the deal but St Andrew’s goalkeeper Hunter Hilts thwarted their attempt.

Meanwhile, Noah Bodie stepped up during the heat of the moment and blasted the ball past Windsor’s goalie Johnathan Premock to secure the title for the Hurricanes.

Bodie described the intense moment before the celebration with teammates.

“It was terrible to be honest but handling it was a little bit easier because my teammates were supporting me. I stepped up to the spot and all the practice that I did just made me think that ‘ I got this’,” Bodie said.

He added that it felt good to win the championship with his teammates.

“This feels great because a lot of people will be leaving soon so it is nice to get them one last trophy,” he said.

Junior Girls

The Comets capped off the regular season with an undefeated record so the BAISS soccer championship was just a cherry on top for the back-to-back champions.

Assistant coach Dion Peterson spoke on the talent level of the Comets’ junior girls team.

“It feels good. We are humbled by our win. We have a lot of good girls and they take coaching well. It was a good win. They are hard workers. They really go out to play and represent their school,” he said.

He gave props to the Hurricanes for a good match but said the key to the win was controlling the game in the second half.

“It was a pretty good match. They are a good team. It was kind of even in both halves. We scored two goals and then they came and scored one in the first half. After that we kind of controlled the second half, stepped it up and really took control of the game,” Peterson said.

Eydan Hamilton got the Comets on the scoreboard quickly. She put the ball to the bank of the net in the 4th minute. Isla Lightbourne got the equaliser for St Andrew’s to tie the score 1-1 at the 16th minute mark. Four minutes later, the Comets’ Sera Maillis scored a goal to give QC a 2-1 lead going into the intermission.

The Hurricanes remained scoreless in the second half while the Comets’ Aiyanna Hernandez added two more goals to their total.

The senior girls and boys championship games will be played today at the same venue beginning at 4pm.