Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

PAPINE WON their first Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Asso-ciations (ISSA)/Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) girls' Under-19 title, yesterday, when they defeated Excelsior 1-0 in sudden-death extra time at the Mona hockey field.

Tashana Edwards scored the all-important goal two minutes into the sudden-death period when she dribbled her way past four Excelsior defenders, then fired home a powerful close-range shot past goalkeeper Delonie Dias.

Missing chances

Earlier, Excelsior dominated the first half and squandered numerous clear scoring chances. Tasheika Fender, Leshawn Fuller and Jamela Pennie were all guilty of missing for Excelsior.

Papine's best chance in the period fell to Edwards, but her point-blank shot was well saved by goalkeeper Dias. They came out in the second half looking the better team, but was denied by excellent goalkeeping.

Andrea Hoo, coach of Papine, was delighted was her team's performance.

"Coming into the finals we did pretty well because our only loss was to Excelsior. We went back and did a bit more training and put something in place that we needed to come to the finals with," said Hoo. "Today was a hard match, all the girls were tired and Excelsior played well. But we played the better game," she said.

Carol Hibbert, coach of Excelsior, said, "I am disappointed because every coach wants to win at the end of the season. I must commend Papine because they have improved with every game they have played."