San Juan defies Trinity with 10 men

San Juan were a goal down and a man down in the first half but Boyce turned things around with a tremendous performance.

The East champions now await the winner of the semifinal involving Presentation College San Fernando and Signal Hill Secondary which is scheduled to kick off tomorrow at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium. Signal Hill got past Carapichaima East 4-2 on penalties yesterday after their quarterfinal game ended 1-1.

Speaking to Newsday after yesterday’s win, Jerry Moe, coach of the San Juan North Secondary team declared: “The team fully deserved the victory as everyone stepped up and played a role in the win today, as well as Boyce came up big and we’re really proud of him.” He warned, however, that while the team could revel in the moment, training resumes today in preparation for the final on Monday.

San Juan will be without their captain Lukeman Brooks for the final, though, after he was shown a straight red card following a dangerous tackle. Elaborating on the impact of missing his skipper for the title match, the coach expressed: “There are 20 something players in the squad and they are trained based on the roles and functions of the positions they play, therefore I am confident the team would be stable and organised for the finals.” Trinity College started the game confident and got the goahead goal in the 10th minute after Saleem Henry’s freekick caused problems for the defence and the ball deflected off the head of San Juan’s Kurdell Sween and ended up in the back of the net. San Juan took five minutes to respond as Kyle Thomas’ shot found a lurking Boyce on the far post as he bundled the ball into the goal even though he looked to be in an offside position.

Trinity College got a numerical advantage as San Juan’s captain was on the receiving end of a straight red in the 38th minute following a rash challenge and apparent words to the female referee. Trinity could have gone ahead after the break as they were awarded a penalty in the 50th minute but it was not meant to be, Saleem Henry’s attempt went well wide of the target as the score remained deadlocked.

After the penalty miss, momentum switched and it was the 10 men - or rather one - from San Juan North who stole the show as Boyce scored a second half hattrick and completed his quadruple to secure the victory. After a long clearance in the 58th, Boyce found himself between two defenders and an onrushing ‘keeper and fired a well-placed shot into the back of the net. Boyce got his third after Jerome Cyrus took a thunderous shot that rebounded off the crossbar and fell directly for the striker to slot home.

However, the man of the match saved his best goal for last as he placed the icing on the victory cake with a delicious lob of Trinity’s keeper, Jaelani Dowers, in the 88th minute to secure the result for San Juan North.

Coach of Trinity College Moka acknowledged the penalty miss as the turning point of the game as well as elementary mistakes in both halves which he felt cost them dearly.

“This is part of life and football as today one team had the desire and passion that was needed to win a game of this magnitude.

We would definitely take this as a learning experience when we prepare for next year’s campaign,”