Visakha Vidyalaya emerged victorious at the 13th Annual Ladies-Visakha Waterpolo encounter, and took home their 6th consecutive LC-VV title this evening at the Sugathadasa Swimming Pool Complex.
Ladies College seemed to have the game in their control as they won the first swim-ball from the starting whistle, and managed to score their first goal within the first minute of the game through the prop, Shenara David. There onwards, Ladies College put immense pressure on the Visakhians dominating the first quarter of the game. Visakhian Tusari Ekanayake missed three consecutive shots on goal, which included a penalty as well. At the end of the first quarter, the scores laid at 1-0 in favour of the girls in red.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the LCites conceded an exclusion which was punished for by the Viskhian skipper, Nadishka Senanayake. With the scores tied on one-all, Shaleena Peiris scored the tie-breaker for Visakha. Peiris scored yet another goal in the last minute of the second quarter leaving Visakha with a safe lead of two goals at half time.
From the beginning of the second half, the game was contested by both Ladies College and Visakha Vidyalaya as the ball moved up and down the pool. However, it was Visakha that broke through a tough Ladies’ defence with Tusari Ekanayake scoring her first. From there onwards, it was the Visakhians who began to steal the show away from Ladies College. Skipper Nadishka scored her second goal through a brilliant piece of passing from the Visakhians. Quarter up, the third, Visakha Vidyalaya was in total control leading the game 5 goals to 1.
With the eruption of the enthusiastic Visakhian supporters, the fourth quarter started off with Tusari Ekanayake scoring with an extra-man advantage. Ladies College came up with their tale of the story, scoring through skipper Sashi Weerawarana, giving Ladies some sense of hope. Nonetheless, it was too little too late for Ladies College. Tusari Ekanayake scored her hatrick shortly after that, extending the Visakha lead to 5 goals. Visakhian Captain, Nadishka Senanayake laid the icing on the cake for her team as she scored the final goal of the game, one that couldn’t come any easier. The final score line read 8 goals to 2.
The captains of 2013 and 2016, Tusari Ekanayake and Nadishka Senanayake top scored with 3 goals each as Visakha Vidyalaya retained the M.N Edusooriya trophy for the sixth consecutive year.
Under 15
The Under 15 game was won yet again by Visakha Vidyalaya 7 goals to 5. Januli de Soysa and Ayani Nagahawatte top scored for Visakha with 2 goals each while Sulani de Silva of Ladies College chipped into the total tally with 3 goals under her belt.
