The male and female MBBS football teams were defeated by Human Nutrition and Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) respectively in the Finals of the Provost Cup held on the 10th of November, 2023 at the SMLS Pitch, UI.
Both matches were concluded on penalties with the EHS team scoring two against MBBS’ sole penalty to win the Female contest while a well-converted spot kick by Fkay of Human Nutrition saw them claim victory by six goals to MBBS’ five.
The Finals began by 9:42 am after opening addresses from the Provost, Professor Olayinka Omigbodun and Deputy Provost, Professor Ade Adeniyi, of the College of Medicine, UI, who commended the efforts of the teams so far and the proceedings of the tournament. Afterwards, there was a kick off by the Provost to begin the Female Final.
The female final began with much intensity as Eseosa of MBBS registered her first shot on target as early as the second minute. However, it soon became a one-sided affair as EHS’ duo of Sumbo and Sinmi kept breaking the lines; winning a couple of free kicks. This changed in the last five minutes of the twenty-minute half with blocks from EHS preventing attempts by MBBS forward, Chidinma.
In the second half, the proceedings remained the same as both teams went head-to-head for the elusive goal. By the 34th minute, MBBS had recorded three corner attempts but couldn’t perpetrate the EHS’ three-woman defence. Substitutions were made by Coach of the team, Ayotunde, with Mercy and Favour coming on, but all to no end as the game proceeded to penalties.
In the penalty shootout, the EHS Goalkeeper would prove to be the villain in MBBS’ tale as she saved four out of six penalties to hand her team the victory.
A few minutes after, the Male Final kicked off, with the Provost once again setting things in motion. Similar to the Female final, the intensity picked up right from the start. Human Nutrition midfielder, Malik, registered the first shot of the game in the 3rd minute, but was unable to find the net. MBBS soon responded with a free kick by Habeeb in the 6th minute which resulted in an attacking charge and another shot by winger, Karbon, in the 10th minute which failed to test Human Nutrition goalie, Bobby Jay.
MBBS piled on the pressure in the minutes that followed but were slowed down by Human Nutrition’s counter attacking movements. An unfortunate collision in the 21st minute, between Human Nutrition forward, AJ7, and MBBS’ goalkeeper, Adeoluwa, resulted in the forward having to be taken out of the game. He was eventually substituted out in the 31st minute as the match came to half-time.
In the second half, MBBS made their first substitution; Behemoth coming on for Sir Dave, in midfield. The second half proved to be a tighter affair as Public Health trio of Otuoke, FKay, and Kenny, held down the defence and frustrated attempts by Tofunmi and Habeeb. In the 40th minute, MBBS Coach, Obeya Mark, made two other substitutions, star-forward, Jide, and midfielder, Aniekan, for Tofunmi and Fagbo, respectively. Fagbo immediately got into the rhythm of the game, connecting with Karbon for a brilliant run that was again stopped by actions of the Human Nutrition defenders. In the 45th minute, another MBBS substitution was made, Abang for Ọlọ́runfemi in the defence. The five minutes that followed featured desperate attempts from both sides on goal, with Jide coming the closest with a crossbar hit. However, none of the sides seemed to be able to convert, and so the game ended nil-nil. On to penalties.
Unlike the Female shootout, the Male Final was a goal-filled affair. Both sides put spot kick after spot kick past the respective opposing keepers. But misses by Aniekan and Abang, the latter saved by Bobby Jay, meant that Human Nutrition’s Malik’ earlier miss wouldn’t count for much as the shootout ended six-five in favour of Human Nutrition, sealing their win as 2023 Provost Cup Champions.
In the Medals and Awards Ceremony, held after the Ceremonial Staff Match, asides the trophies given to respective winners, some other prizes were also handed out. MBBS’ Chidinma and Tofunmi were awarded the The Top Goal Scorer Award in the Female and Male category, having scored six goals each in the course of the tournament, while Sumbo (EHS) and Bobby Jay (Human Nutrition) were awarded prizes for the Most Resourceful Male and Female Players, respectively. There are also cash prizes to be awarded to the winning teams as well.
Speaking with the UIMSA Press, Chidinma had this to say, “I feel very good about the top goalscorer award but those good feelings are kind of overshadowed by the narrow loss to EHS today. We played a good game but there can only be one winner but still the UIMSA team held it down. I’m very proud of myself and my girls. We are surely coming back stronger”.
Eriomala John
