Football: Women's Land Marine Cup final-Bibi nets hat-trick as Olympia Coast get second career double |30 October 2006

Olympia Coast, who could have netted four goals in the first half had their strikers not fluffed the opportunities they created, scored right from the kick-off in the second period. In fact, they needed just nine seconds to open the score. Leading by example, skipper Bibi chased a long ball played forward by a teammate and after Dolphins’ stand-in goalkeeper Diane Lablache just managed to get a hand to her initial shot, the La Digue-born striker got a second bite of the cherry to head the rebound home.

Like Olympia Coast, Dolphins were also guilty of missing some clear-cut chances. After volleying wide a Pascalina Moustache 18th minute right wing cross, Juna Philo again volleyed the ball left-footed in the 51st minute. But her effort, which drifted wide of the right post, didn’t trouble Olympia Coast’s goalie Anne Cadence.

Bibi made Dolphins pay for their miss two minutes later (53rd minute). The former middle distance athlete dribbled the ball for almost 30 metres before unleashing a ground-level shot which beat keeper Lablache, a former recipient of the player of the year award.

It took Dolphins, under new coach Gilly Jean, just one minute to reduce the deficit. One of Dolphins’ best players in Saturday’s final, Vanessa Dick, whose first-time 28th minute effort flew over the bar, lost her marker on the edge of Olympia Coast’s penalty area to fire a low shot at the far post and the ball crept into the net.

With 16 minutes left to play, Bibi decided to challenge the Dolphins defence in search of another goal to complete her hat-trick. She clipped the bar with a left foot volley in the 55th minute and nine minutes from the final whistle, the striker produced a piece of intelligent play to net her third individual goal. With her back at goal, Bibi, 21, rounded Dolphins’ skipper Clency Bristol inside the danger zone and turned to unleash a left foot shot. Goalkeeper Lablache remained glued to her spot as the ball rolled into the net.
The win is Olympia Coast’s fourth in five match-ups against Dolphins this year.

Not only did Olympia Coast achieve their second League and Cup double after their first in 2002, they also retained the Land Marine Cup. Last year, they shattered Ste Anne United's dream of achieving a League and Cup double by beating them 1-0 in the Land Marine Cup final.

After collecting the Land Marine Cup from Jemmy Adela, who is responsible for women’s football within the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF), deadly striker Bibi, the only local female player to have scored five goals in a single match – in a 7-1 win against United Sisters in the Patron’s Cup in 2003 – had this to say to Sports Nation:
“I was determined to get the win. I knew beforehand we were going to win and getting a hat-trick in the final is a personal achievement.”

Her coach, Gerard Gamatis, said that “my players came out strong in the second half in search for a goal after having missed a number of chances in the first period.”

He added that he is satisfied with his team’s performance this season.

As for Dolphins’ Lablache, usually an outfield player who has been playing in goal lately because of a nagging injury, “Dolphins lacked consistency this year” and she attributed this to the “number of young players on the team.”

She added that this season was her last.

It is to note that this year’s Land Marine Cup was disputed by four teams and was first played on a league format with teams meeting each other once. League winners Ste Anne United met third placed Olympia Coast in the first semifinal and runners-up Dolphins played fourth place finishers United Sisters in the other last-four match-up.

There were no winners at the end of normal time in the Ste Anne United/Olympia Coast match as the score remained locked at 1-1. Vesna César gave Ste Anne United the lead after 24 minutes of play and Natacha Bibi equalised for Olympia Coast in the 64th minute.

A penalty shootout was needed to decide the winners and Olympia Coast prevailed. They scored through sisters Anne and Annette Henriette and Ramona Jules, while Ste Anne United failed to hit the target from the penalty spot.

A Juna Philo 24th minute goal was enough to give Dolphins a 1-0 win against United Sisters and book their place in the final.

With her hat-trick in the final, Bibi finished as the competition’s top scorer with five goals, followed by Dolphins’ Philo with four.  Ste Anne United’s Isanne Rose finished third with three goals after she netted a hat-trick in a 3-2 defeat of Olympia Coast in the league phase.

G. G.