Papsii edge United 4-3 in Wawen’s Cup final

By LARRY ANDREW
A WEEK-long soccer tournament ended successfully on Sunday at Lae Football Association Park, with Papsii winning the grand final in the men’s division.
Papsii, from the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, engraved its name on the biggest off-season soccer tournament, the Wawens Cup, which had been running for three years.
They beat Bumayong United 4-3 in a penalty shootout.
In the women’s division, LSA Sisters, from Lahi Football Association, tamed Mautaura 3-0, while in the Under-16 grand final Middle Wans beat Kamist 1-0.
For the third place playoff, last year’s champions Bumayong United beat Kalmoore 1-0 in the U16 division, while Poro beat Middle Wans 1-0 (women’s) and Sagia from Bumbu edged Pascol 1-0.
The main showdown of the third Wawens Cup challenge between Papsii and United was officially kicked off by Zilu Scientific managing director Jason Peter.
The match was evenly-contested, with both teams featuring players with National Soccer League experience.
Papsii, made up of former and current NSL players, had the upper hand in the match but could not convert the opportunities into goals as United played a defensive game throughout.
The match ended 0-0 at the halftime break and at the restart, United applied pressure but could not penetrate through Papsii’s backline led by captain Jeremy Yasasa.
With the scores tied 0-0 at the fulltime hooter, the match went into extra-time.
This forced the penalty shootout  which Papsii eventually won.
Pasii picked the K2000 cash prize and the cup while United settled for K1300 and the trophy.
All other finalists of the three divisions  each received cash prizes and trophies.
The organisers of the tournament also gave consolation awards to outside teams Gorogias (Gabensis), Bakaks (Wantoat), Namesh and Hobu (Nabak), Lasitiwa, and Oro Wawens, for taking part in the tournament.
Individual golden glove and golden boot awards for the three divisions were also awarded.