Marist Futsal club is the champion of the first ever national futsal league, the Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) futsal league.
Marist claimed the SIPA futsal league title after they narrowly defeated Koloale FC 2-1 in the second to last league match at the Multipurpose Hall yesterday.
Winning the title is something Marist has eyed since the start of the competition but it would not have been possible without the efforts put in their trainings.
“I would like to thank God for the victory.
“I also like to thank all the players, coach, team officials and sponsor Y-sato Marine and supporters for their support.
“As we’ve mentioned we were aiming to win the league.
“With such a positive mentality and work hard towards your goal, I believe you can achieve it and our victory is one good example of that.
“It’s also the team work along with the experience that helped us to become champions,” he said.
Marist Coach, Jerry Sam said winning the league shows hard work put in for their preparation.
“I would like to congratulate the players for a job well done.
“Winning the league was not easy; it came from a lot of hard work and discipline.
“We had a goal and we worked hard to achieve it and we did,” he said.
Marist actually came from behind to win the match after Koloale took lead early in the second half following a scoreless first half.
Captain Elliot Ragomo leveled the score before Robert Laua slotted home the winning goal four minutes before full time.
Koloale created some golden chances but just could not find the back of the net as Marist tightened its defense along with the experienced hands of Anthony Talo at the goal mouth.
Ragomo said they made a slow start in the match trying out a new strategy for the new season however did not turn out well so they switched back to their normal play style which finally paid off with the two goals.
“We were a goal down following a slow start in the first half.
“We regrouped and came back stronger in the second half keeping a positive mindset and finally got the goals that sealed our victory as the SIPA futsal champions,” he said.
Marist will play its final league match against G-Camp next week.
By CARLOS ARUAFU
