Latest update December 16th, 2024 9:00 AM
Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship – Group A… ‘Lady Jags’ topple Saint Lucia in clinical fashion for 3rd win – Suriname blank Antigua & Barbuda
A section of the crowd cheering on the ‘Lady Jags’ on Friday night at the Leonora Track and Field Facility.
Tiandi Smith celebrates her and Guyana’s opening goals against Saint Lucia last night at Leonora. (Franklin Wilson photo)
Nailah Rowe (3rd left) is being embraced by her teammates after scoring Guyana’s second goal against Saint Lucia.
By Franklin Wilson
Guyana’s ‘Lady Jags’ have for the third successive occasion in this group romped to a 2-0 win, this time they have added to their list the previously unbeaten Saint Lucia to notch full points and take over the pole position in the group last night at the Leonora Track and Field Facility, Leonora, West Coast Demerara.
Urged on by another supportive crowd, Guyana not only ensured that Saint Lucia – which had scored total of nine (9) goals in their three wins – not score at all in what was the match of the group, but also ensured that goalkeeper Anessa O’Brien also maintained a clean sheet to date; Guyana scoring 6 and conceding 0.
It was a dominating display by the home team which controlled the flow of the match from the first whistle until the final, apart from nullifying Saint Lucia’s trump cards, Captain Krysan St. Louis (5 goals in the two matches) and Tanika Bernard who had scored 3 goals prior to the Guyana clash. The two had combined for 8 of the 9 goals their team scored in their three wins.
Against the technically and tactically solid ‘Lady Jags’ it was a different ball game as Head Coach Ivan Joseph and his Technical Staff, as he had promised to, did their home work on their opponents and executed same, to precision.
Lanky forward Tiandi Smith it was who sent Guyana ahead in the 19th minute when she finished at the near post, beating Saint Lucia’s custodian Renala Francis with a well placed shot. It was a well deserved goal for Guyana as they put their stamp on proceedings.
In their matches leading up to last evening’s clash, Guyana had also achieved opening goals in the first half and went on to close off their opponents in the second half; this match was going to be no different; the first half ending with Guyana up, 1-0.
Coming against the breeze in the second half did not slow up the ‘Lady Jags’, they continued to dominate proceedings controlling the flow of the ball, holding possession and whenever the visitors seemed to be harbouring ambitions of getting in the attacking third, the Guyana defenders led by Brianne Desa, kept them at bay.
Therefore, it was no surprise when the hungry Nailah Rowe worked her way past the Saint Lucia back line before firing past Francis in the 73rd minute to double Guyana’s advantage and pull the lid on any thoughts of a comeback by the visitors.
The win propelled Guyana to 9 points the same as the losers but the Guyanese have a superior goal difference to the Saint Lucians which ended their campaign with the loss but already punched their ticket to the knockout stages of the competition.
In the earlier match yesterday, Suriname earned their first points of the competition thanks to a solid 5-0 win over Antigua & Barbuda, languishing at the bottom of the points table without a point.
Orthea Riley was on fire for the Surinamese, scoring the first helmet-trick of the group in the 20th, 32nd, 59th and 68th minutes. The other goal was an own goal which was scored by Antigua & Barbuda’s Tyanna Simon in the 44th minute.
Guyana will be going all out to win the group outright when they close off against Suriname tomorrow from 16:00hrs with the final group match between Bermuda and Antigua & Barbuda from 18:30hrs.
Latest Points Table
Group A
Country MP W D L GF GA GD Points
Guyana 3 3 0 0 6 0 +6 9
Saint Lucia 4 3 0 1 9 7 +2 9
Bermuda 3 1 0 2 7 5 +2 3
Suriname 3 1 0 2 9 10 -1 3
Antigua 3 0 0 3 1 10 -9 0
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