Nalanda College made easy work of Ananda College in their second Water Polo encounter winning 17-7 to retain the Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda Challenge Trophy.
Following a year’s absence, the second Water Polo Encounter between the two schools began behind schedule as Ananda sought their first win of the encounter.
Nalanda began in the blue head gear while Ananda was in white for the game. The men in blue began on the front foot winning the ball however it was Ananda who scored first through Asel Karannagoda.
That was the only goal for Ananda in the first quarter as they saw Nalanda hit the back of the net on five occasions.
A goal from Arosha Nirmal and two apiece from Senal Hasintha and Rusiru Praveen meant that Ananda were left chasing the game at the end of the first quarter.
Ananda knew they had to make things happen and came out on the front foot in the second quarter winning the ball from the start.
The storming start yielded a goal for the team in the White head gear as Asel Karannagoda scored his and his team’s second of the evening.
Nalanda did not let the momentum get away from them and extended their lead to four with a goal from Dilanka Shehan. A goal from Anandian Dasitha Wickramasinghe on the third time of asking, cut the deficit in half.
Karannagoda completed his hat-trick through a deflected goal however two further goals from Nalanda meant Ananda were once again trailing by four goals at the break.
Half Time: Ananda 4 – Nalanda 8
The lads in the White head gear were hoping for a change of fortunes in the third quarter after half time but luck was not on their side as captain Pasindu Gunarathna of Nalanda scored, a minute into the third quarter.
Mithila Minara of Ananda scored the second goal of the quarter after a misplaced pass by a Nalanda lad. However, Senal Hasintha’s third of the evening saw the 5 goal lead restored.
Nileesha Deshanjana made up for a one-on-one miss as he scored to take Nalanda further ahead as the game seemed to slip from the grasp of Ananda College.
Hasintha scored his fourth while captain Gunarathna scored his second taking Nalanda further clear of Ananda but Karannagoda’s 4th in the dying seconds of the third quarter helped them to 6 goals with a quarter to go.
A goal from Nimanka Rathnayake and two more from Arosha Nirmal saw Nalanda stretch their lead to a ten goal margin as Ananda managed a solitary goal through Ridma Tharaka in the fourth quarter. Shenal Hasintha added the cherry on top of the already iced cake as he ended the night with a fabulous fifth goal.
Full Time: Ananda 7 – Nalanda 17
Goal Scorers
Ananda – Asel Karannagoda 4, Dasitha Wickramasinghe, Mithila Minara, Ridma Tharaka
Nalanda – Senal Hasintha 5, Arosha Nirmal 4, Rusiru Praveen 2, Pasindu Gunarathna 2, Dilanka Shehan, Ranidu Jayathilake, Nileesha Deshanjana, Nimanka Rathnayake
Quarterly Score
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | |
| Ananda | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| Nalanda | 5 | 8 | 13 |
17 |
