SCHOOLS: St Joseph Girls Kitale fuliza Mpesa Foundation to qualify for East Africa games

St Joseph Girls Kitale celebrate alongside their Principal Rosebella Orwaru after qualifying for East Africa finals.[Jonah Onyango,Standard]

St Joseph Girls Kitale rescued another tough show at the Brookside KSSSA National Term One games with a ticket to the 2024 East Africa games set to be played in Mbale, Uganda after finishing third in hockey girl’s finals.

The 2023 East Africa hockey girls silver medalists defeated Mpesa Foundation 2-0 in eight second after playing out to a 1-1 draw in the third-place playoff match staged at Katoloni Secondary School in Machakos County on Saturday morning.

Captain Irene Senoi gave St Joseph the lead in the third quarter after rounding off two rushing Mpesa Foundation defenders to send a thunderous shot past a helpless Gennifer Whyie in goal for Mpesa.

Leading 1-0 with a quarter left, Mpesa refused to give up on a chance to qualify for the Mbale games as Terry Cheptoo leveled the scores from a penalty corner to force the game to eight seconds shoot outs.

St Jospeh Kitale's Tracy Korir (left) dribbles past Mpesa goalkeeper Gennifer Whyie during eight seconds shoot out.[Jonah Onyango,Standard]

In this scenario, when the whistle is blown, both the player and goalkeeper can move and the attacker has 8 seconds to score a goal.

The eight seconds shoot outs saw Getrude Wabwire and Daisy Kerubo score for St Joseph while goalkeeper Irene Akinyi saved two shots as Mpesa sent wide two shots as the Trans Nzoia County heavyweights won 2-0.

Speaking after the win, St Joseph head coach John Lusaka congratulated the girls for their never die spirit despite having to live with the disappointment of losing the semifinals to Tigoi Girls who went on to be crowned the national champions dethroning Nyamira Girls.

“Congratulations to the girls. Once again, they showed that they can get results under pressure and I am happy that despite missing out on the national trophy, we are going to East Africa.

“The journey has just started for us since we believe the team has talent and after last year’s silver medal in Rwanda, I trust that we can elevate it to gold in Uganda this year in August,” said Lusaka.

St Joseph Girls Kitale celebrate alongside their Principal Rosebella Orwaru after qualifying for East Africa finals.[Jonah Onyango,Standard]

St Joseph Girls Kitale Principal Rosebella Orwaru who was on the touchline to cheer the girls on was elated after the win as she promised to support the girls further.

“It is a good day to end the games after a disappointing lose in the semis and it is a relief that we will continue with the tradition of going all the way to East Africa. I will support the team and I know they will do even better in Uganda,” said Orwaru.

St Joseph Girls Kitale also won the girls rugby 15s trophy.