April 9, 2006
Jamaica today were crowned the 2006 CARIFTA Men’s and Women’s Champions at the Aquatic Center in Barbados defeating the Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad and Tobago.
In the first
game, the Jamaican girls had a perfect start against Trinidad jumping to 4-1
lead at the end of the first quarter. The Jamaican’s scored increased the lead
with one goal in the second, as both team bug in a played a very tight
defensive game. No goals were scored in the third quarter, as the score
remained 5-1 in favor of Jamaica. With Trinidad pressuring hard to score in the
forth, Jamaica held on an ease the pressure with another goal to seal win 6-1
and the Gold Medal. Stephanie Smith was Jamaica’s top scored with three (3)
goals, Vanacia Johnson netted two (2) and Chelsea Chen-Young one (1).
Jamaica’s
Men knew that they would have to play 32 minutes of strong defense if they were
to reverse their preliminary round loss to the Netherlands Antilles and win the
Gold. Jamie Smith led by example and played solid defense throughout the game
while scoring four (4) important goals. Jamaica enjoyed a 8-6 lead at the half
and the game remained close until late in the forth quarter when Robert
Hamilton, who scored eight goals in the game, broke the game open with a late
flurry of goals resulting in a comfortable 15-10 win. John-Claude Wright, who
currently attends school in the United States, scored two goals for Jamaica.
The Jamaica
swimmers, who last night won twelve (12) medals, including six (6) Gold, will
continue their quest for glory when the Day 4 Finals session starts at 6:00 PM,
Jamaica time. The competition ends tonight and the Jamaican Team will return
home on Air Jamaica on Monday evening.