Deacons double

Article by CRAIG COZIER

Deacons women continued to enjoy the Banks International Hockey Festival on day two yesterday, continuing their charge towards the semi-finals with two comfortable victories.
Former Barbados striker Corlette Kellman and American Melanie Williams were to the fore in both victories.
Kellman notched a double in a 4-1 win over Old Gold Roosters, while Williams and fellow New Yorker, Eryn Apanovitch – regular Festival visitors with the Big Apple team – completed the rout.
Williams was twice on the scoresheet in a 4-0 blanking of All Stars later in the day, sweeping home two of Kellman’s crosses from the right to give Deacons a 2-0 half time lead.
In the second period, Kellman added a crisp penalty corner strike and Tamisha Adamson finished off the Stars with a slick finish of her own.
In men’s action, All Stars remained on course for a perfect preliminary round with a hard-fought 2-1 win over University of the West Indies.
Two of the three other semi-final spots seem destined for Aixen of Germany and Du Badd Crew, who played to an entertaining 1-1 draw at Kensington Oval.
Chetwyn Henry opened the scoring in the 23rd minute for the local team, his clinical penalty corner drag flick beating the goalkeeper to his left.
But Aixen produced some thrilling moments of their own and richly deserved their equalizer, which came ten minutes from time from a busted penalty corner. Florian Pretz was the provider, his fine work on the right leading to a simple slap home from Bastian Nelsen.
The fourth semi-final spot – only six teams are contesting the men’s division – is a battle between University of the West Indies and the Barbados Defence Force.
The veterans division is also sparsely populated, but Maple seem set to claim their fourth veterans’ crown ahead of the other two teams. They romped to a 3-1 win against A Badd Connection on the back of an Adrian Nichols’ hat-trick. It was their third win on the trot.
Day Two scores
Men
All Stars 2, UWI 1; Aixen 8, Woodbrook 0; Aixen 1, Du Badd Crew 1.
Women
Deacons 4, All Stars 0; Deacons 4, Old Gold Roosters 1; UWI 4, Banks SC 0; Old Gold Roosters 3, All Stars 0.
Mixed
BUT 2, Avengers 0; All Stars 2, Maple 0.