The Sharks and the Geckos fight for possession during a line out. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
By Regina Shiroma
The top-seeded GW Geckos defeated the Simon Sanchez Sharks 43-5 in their quarterfinal game Friday night at the GW field.
GW’s fastest Gecko, Maricia Mariano, scored three tries in the win. Playing her position to a T, the winger used her speed to race down the sidelines, entering the try zones untouched.
Mariano already scoring two of her tries and a conversion in the first half, placed her last try down in the opening seconds of the second half. Along with Mariano, Jade Cruz also tallied three tries. Cruz followed after with her last try as well, pulling a switch on the defense and hitting the gap to the open space to the try zone. After a penalty was called on the Sharks, Rayonna Quitugua broke through the defensive line and scored GW’s last try.
Jaydeen Leon Guerrero scored Sanchez’s only try in the closing seconds of the game.
Jade Cruz sprints down the field her last try of the game. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
“So far we’ve been working good together, we improved a lot during the season. Hopefully we do good tomorrow and bring the same spirit we have this whole season,” said Mariano about Saturday’s semifinals and finals.
The ND Royals have been GW’s toughest challenge thus far, losing two out of the three times that they have played them. As ND is one of the top four contenders, according to Mariano, they have a plan if they were to play the Royals.
“Better communication, and we practiced some stuff that they don’t know about and hopefully we can catch them off guard.”
The Geckos will play their semifinal game at 10A.M. Saturday at Wettengel Field.