National Women’s Development League ...Paiwomak Warriors and GDF for today’s final; Conquerors and St. Ignatius battle for 3rd

National Women’s Development League …Paiwomak Warriors and GDF for today’s final; Conquerors and St. Ignatius battle for 3rd

Mar 12, 2017 Sports

By Franklin Wilson
Paiwomak Warriors Football Club based at Annai in the Rupununi will battle the

Samantha Roberts (left) and Jillian Hawker – Paiwomak Warriors FC

Guyana Defence Force in today’s final of the National Women’s Developmental League which will take place at the GDF ground, today.
Paiwomak defeated Conquerors Females 2-1 in yesterday’s feature semi final with the GDF getting the better of St. Ignatius Sports Club of Lethem 2-0 on kicks from the penalty mark following an exciting 2-2 tie in regulation and extra time.
Competing with 7 players utalising the full length of the pitch was always going to be a challenge for the players but they warmed to the challenge admirably, exciting the fans who were on hand to witness the action including GFF President Wayne Forde and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Ivan Persaud.
Battling for 30 minutes, two equal halves of 15 minutes, a Samantha Roberts double propelled Paiwomak Warriors to victory in a competition that has been supported by the world governing body FIFA which saw all the competing teams receiving a complete set of gear and other equipment towards their participation in the competition.
Whilst Roberts who rocked the nets in the 13th and 24th minute was rampant at the top against the Conquerors defence, the Warriors had the solid Jillian Hawker controlling proceedings at the back as she negated many a promising efforts from the Conquerors forwards especially in the second half.
Conquerors’ Nathalie Nedd was able to pull one back in the 26th minute and for a while looked as they were going to equalise but the Warriors kept the home team at bay for the win.

Abeocia Heywood (2nd let) scores for the GDF against St. Ignatius yesterday at the Conquerors ground.

The opening match saw end to end action which went down to the wire where the Army side only needed to score two of their three penalties through their star player Abeocia Heywood and Kendra Thomas; St. Ignatius missed both of theirs which were taken by Sonia Griffith who went wide of the upright and Amanda Cabral who sent her shot way over the cross bar.
During regulation time the GDF’s star forward Heywood handed her side the lead five minutes into the match, her speed and control of the ball never allowing the St. Ignatius side, led by Amika Semple in defence, to contain her.
But one minute after assuming the lead, the GDF hadn’t a choice but watch the Lethem based girls neutralise that advantage when Vanessa Scipio beat former Lady Jag custodian, Ronette Cort.
On the stroke of half time, St. Ignatius assumed the lead on account of Sonia Griffith’s

Guyana Defence Force Female Football Team

powerfully taken penalty which Cort could not deny. The momentum was now with the Lethem girls but after the brief break, the Army lasses were intent on changing that as they played a more aggressive game by pressing high.
The quickness of the GDF to the ball and their ability to cover more ground than their opponents
saw the equalizing goal being scored by none other than Heywood in the 25th minute, custodian Natasha Rodrigues, well beaten.
However, St. Ignatius never gave up and were able to contain the GDF ladies for the remainder of the match and the six minutes of extra time that was played before kicks from the penalty mark were taken to decide the winner.
The third place match today will kick off at 16:00hrs between Conquerors and St. Ignatius which would be followed by the grand final pitting Paiwomak Warriors against the home team, GDF. This would be followed the final of the STAG Elite League, League Leaders tournament between the Guyana Defence Force and Fruta Conquerors.
A total of 13 teams from seven (7) associations participated, the most from the Rupununi (4) with UDFA, Berbice and Georgetown with two each, while there was one apiece from East Bank, West Demerara and Bartica.