Thora draw first blood at Hayman first-leg

S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia drowned their arch-rivals Royal College 23-10 at the 29th Hayman Trophy's first- leg last evening at the Sugathadasa waters.

In matter of minutes since the kick off, Royalists wasted no time and opened the scoring. Thomian captain and No. 7 Dirhen Dias, after opening the scoring for his school, once again scored and provided the lead.

The first quarter also saw both the schools squandering many a scoring opportunities. Some of them, though, were thwarted due to excellent keeping.

In the second quarter, Thomians, bidding to reclaim the trophy, initiated the goal scoring. Thomian no.4 M. Zuhair, though was unsuccessful in two back-toback attempts, still netted the seventh goal. Soon after Cap no.6 S. Gurusinghe gifted the 10th goal for the school by the sea.

No. 8 H. Bollegala of STC pierced the waters in a powerful throw, concluding the first-half, reading 11 goals to six.

The Thomian skipper led from the front attacking and defending. Before Royalists could finish ruing a missed chance, Thomian Zuhair netted the 12th goal. On the other hand, and in a tit-for-tat Royal's No.5 Dimeetri Liyanage netted the seventh goal.

No.5 for Thora, M. A. Tissera, brought up the 15th goal. Despite good hand work of the Thomian goalie at one point, there was no support for him and that conceded the 9th goal from Royal No.4 and their captain, Umindu Katugamapala.

The fourth and the final quarter saw a goal being missed by a whisker. However, the Thomian no's. 4, 7 and 8 hammered three goals, in quick succession. No.4, in goal-scoring again, provided the 20th goal for the evening. The final quarter was dominated by the Thomians, thanks to a goal scoring spree.