JC, KC for Taino Cup lacrosse final

Jamaica College (JC) and Kingston College (KC) will contest the final of the Jamaica Lacrosse Association (JLA) Boys’ Taino Cup after contrasting wins in their semi-finals matches held at the Ashenheim Stadium on Wednesday.

KC strolled past St George’s College 7-3 in the earlier game while JC had to rally back from a two-goal deficit at half time to defeat Calabar High 6-5 in a game that had end-to-end action throughout.

According to JC head coach Monique Morrison, edging out last season’s finalists was the result that she envisioned. “I wasn’t very nervous. I actually dreamt this, the only difference was the goals,” Morrison told The Gleaner. “I’m proud mostly because our guys came out and they played to the best of their ability.”

Calabar head coach Shane Franklin lamented his team’s inability to keep the pressure on the Dark Blues especially having managed to overcome a two-goal deficit of their own early in the game to lead 4-2 at half-time.‘Rough game’

“It was a really rough game. It was a roller coaster. They (JC) trained hard, we have trained hard (but) on the day, the team that dug deep won so we have to just accept the defeat and try to get third place,” he said.

Morrison, a national player herself and the first women’s coach in JC’s history, said that although they lost their early lead, their confidence was not shaken as they were determined to improve on their third-place finish last season when they went through the tournament without a coach on the sidelines. “We were not deterred. We said that we have this. All we needed to do was to score two goals and keep pushing,” she said.

JC’s Raheem Pusey and Brad Buchanan played key roles in the comeback scoring two goals each including the goals that levelled the game twice at 4-4 and 5-5. Nathan Brown had two himself including the game winner with minutes left.

Meanwhile in the Maroon Cup for girls, Excelsior High and St Hugh’s had convincing victories in their semi-finals games which were also played on Wednesday. Excelsior comfortably defeated Wolmer’s Girls 9-3 while St Hugh’s swept Alpha aside 8-3. The third place play-offs and finals for both tournaments will be decided at a later date with today’s scheduled finals postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.