This past weekend the Suba
Lakers travelled to Homabay to defend their title at the BUOP Tournament. Last year the girls captured the trophy and
carried it home to Mbita, so this year they had to return the trophy and try to
win it back. The team consisted of 11
primary school players (mostly 7th and 8th graders) along
with 3 who finished high school recently.
The BUOP is a tournament with mostly secondary school teams and a few
colleges who are preparing for their upcoming seasons. Over 20 girls team participated in the event
this year.
One of the best aspects of
the tournament was that not only did was Suba Lakers represented as a team, but
there were also many Suba Lakers competing on their schools teams. 6 of the 20 girls football teams had Suba
Lakers on them. Five of those teams
reached the Quarterfinals, 3 reached the Semifinals and 2 of those teams played
in the Finals. There were Suba Lakers
represented everywhere! Mawego had 5 Suba Lakers, Sindo 3, Magare 2,
St. Mary’s Magina 1 and Kobala 1.
In the preliminaries, the
Lakers were in Pool D and faced off with St. Theresa’s Secondary School in
their 1st match. June Brenda
opened the scoring with a goal in the first five minutes and Mercy Adhiambo
added another one in the 18th minute of the first half. In the second half Phylice Akoth closed out
the scoring in the 10th minute to give the Lakers a 3-0 win. In the 2nd match, the young Lakers
played Asumbi Teacher’s Training College.
Against the much bigger and stronger college team, the young Lakers used
their speed and ball skills to control the possession. In the final ten minutes, their hard work
paid off by forcing a handball in the box which led to the winning score from
the penalty spot.
After emerging on the top
of Group D, the Lakers qualified for the Quarterfinals on Sunday where they
faced Bakita Secondary School. June
Brenda again opened the scoring in the 4th minute with a long shot
from outside the box. In the 2nd
half Irine Achieng added to the total with an even longer shot from the left
wing. The final score came from Winny
Akinyi on a high bouncing ball that eluded the goalkeeper.
That win earned them a
spot in the Semifinal against their rival Moi Girls Secondary School Sindo. Moi Girls barely survived their Quarterfinal
match-up with Ugari when it took them 13 penalty kicks after their scoreless
draw. For the Semis, the teams were sent
to the main pitch at Homabay High School where thousands thronged the field to
watch. It was a tough physical match-up
that was interrupted every few minutes with players suffering injuries. The Suba Laker coach was called onto the
field 4 different times to help treat injured players. The match was very balanced until the final
minutes when the referee awarded Sindo a penalty kick with a very dubious
whistle. They converted the penalty kick
which turned out to be the match winner.
In the other bracket, the
pre-tournament favorite Kobala had been eliminated in the Quarterfinals, so the
Championship Game was not as much of a challenge as what Sindo faced against
the Lakers in the Semis. They went away
with a 2-0 victory in the finals against Magare, and took the trophy home.
Though it was
disappointing for the Suba Laker team, at least they knew the champions were
helped by 3 Suba Lakers. It was another
great experience for the young girls to play against older more experienced
players and have a chance to play 4 different matches. They have showed the ability to compete with
anyone.