SAINTS FOOTBALL 2007
A Season to Remember

By Nikolai J. Nunes '02

One of my earliest memories of St. Mary's College is a league game against Malick in the Hasely Crawford Stadium. In fact my passion for football and my love affair with Manchester United was ignited during those college years. I've tried to make as many games as possible, supporting with the rhythm section (or trying to as my former classmates would undoubtedly groan) and/or in the stands.

I spent my birthday in 2006 watching the Saints participate in a four team, single day knockout tourney at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva which was one of my major interactions with the young, yet talented team under new coach Jason Edwards. While we didn't win I saw considerable talent demonstrated and over the next few months of the season while we proceeded to sadly be relegated, I wondered as did many what were the reasons for those string of results.

As much as time permitted I saw the team frequently from early in 2007 at the St. Augustine Campus of the UWI and at our grounds train and play practice matches against senior opposition such as San Juan Jabloteh and continue to give a good account of themselves.

I didn't get the opportunity to support the team as they won every game in the senior division comprehensively; then came Wednesday night of the 7th November, 2007. I trudged home late into the night after another long day of studying to be told that we beat the St. Anthony's 'Tigers' 2-0 in our Intercol opener!

What's the score pussycats?!!

Three days later, a pulsating encounter against Mucurapo was decided by a late Sean de Silva wonder goal, his 30 yard volley dipping under the crossbar for a 3-2 victory and sending the Saints into the North Zone Intercol Final.

I suspect that was the moment that galvanized the support and ignited the hopes of students and alumni alike!

Facebook flared to life! Our Official Past Student's Union group membership grew exponentially across the globe as alumni awoke from dormancy and were about to bear witness to the dawn of a new area of Saints Football.

The current student body was revitalized; several students and team members started their own facebook groups, replete with streaming media coverage and constant updating along with the excellent coverage of www.schoolsoccernet.com.

I never more wanted to be back in high school to be a part of this revolution, and was jealous of my newly minted first form brother's position.

Thursday 15th November: St. Mary's College versus Malick; North Zone Intercol Final

I couldn't miss this, No assignment, lab, or paper was more important.

At the Hasley Crawford stadium (where we played all our Intercol matches that season), blue and white uniforms, stripes, and flags filled the covered stand. Alumni had taken the afternoon off and all that awaited were fireworks!

Malick scored first and in the dying moments striker Hakeem King equalized sending the match into extra time. Then playmaker Leston Paul grabbed the winning goal to the delight of the fans who promptly stormed the pitch at the end of the game.

Those who thought this was a fairy tale were now cognizant of the fact that St. Mary's College had served noticed to the SSFL. We were back, here to stay and play damn fine football! The media coverage going into the Nationals reflected such.

Presentation College San Fernando traveled north and twice our lead was erased as the Pres men pulled level and each time we were let down by some culpable defending that would ultimately prove to be our undoing in the semi-finals against El Dorado.

Against Pres, we took the lead through Hakeem and then again through the brilliant interchange between our National Under 17 duo of Leston Paul and Sean de Silva, however we were put through the wringer of a penalty shootout where goalkeeper Matthew Jardim brilliantly rose to the occasion with the sole save of the shoot-out leaving Leston to bury the winner past Presentation.

The following day the sport's cover of the Express' full page shot summed up the attitude of the season showing the team unity and belief as they sprinted to the touchline after winning the shootout, the title appropriately captioned; 'No Stopping Saints!'

We ended the season against 'El Do' losing 2-1 in a torturous game as the Saints outplayed the 'Blue Thunder' from start to finish. Alas, the ball struck the crossbar and uprights on at least three separate occasions but failed to cross the line!

It was a heartbreaking defeat as the boys played their hearts out. At the final whistle our supporters stood and sang the college song lustily. They had done their college proud, even in defeat.

It brought to the end a year of relegation pain and rightfully restored our place and reputation in the championship division. The team showed great courage, grit, determination, heart and passion and it reaped dividends this season as one of the few Senior Division teams in history, to win a Zonal Intercol title.

Never had I seen such a high quality of football, and team spirit and togetherness from our college (although my less than a decade involvement pales in comparison to some of our more experienced alumni). They won the hearts of many for their tenaciousness. From what I saw that season and the previous, they grew from strength to strength and played a technical quality of football that surpassed many of the other colleges while fulfilling the potential that was always there from the beginning.

After the game I went to the locker room and saw a sad team that thought they had disappointed their fans, but they were wrong; Saints First XI 2007 under the captain Veer Lakhan-Joseph made history, produced an indelible contribution to school and alumni spirit and left many wonderful memories. Our alma mater has produced a great role model in Shaka Hislop (who was so moved that he visited the college during this period as he celebrated his retirement from the game) and praised the team that emboldened this verse from the college song:

"And our thousand voices ring in mighty chorus
College of St. Mary's onto victory
Yonder our colors white and blue are proudly waving
Down the field our team comes sweeping crashing through"