Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship Guyana’s ‘Lady Jags’ fall to Haiti as historic journey ends

Mar 05, 2020 Sports

The historic journey for Guyana’s ‘Lady Jags’ came to an end yesterday at the Estadio Panamericano, San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic where the Guyanese lost to Haiti 0-3 in the quarter finals of the Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship.
Competing at this level and tournament for the first time, the young Guyanese showed the heart of a true ‘Jaguar’ as they battled through trying conditions to post three wins whilst losing twice in reaching the final eight; a tremendous accomplishment.

The Under-20 ‘Lady Jags’ ended their historic sojourn in the Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship with a 0-3 defeat to Haiti.

Yesterday’s quarter final clash, their fifth match in 11 days saw the ‘Lady Jags’, ranked #23 in Concacaf going down to the #4 ranked Haiti which were led by the leading goal scorer of the tournament, 16 year-old Melchie Dumornay who scored all three goals, taking her tally in the championship to 13.
Haiti’s Captain Dumornay, scored in the 18th, 54th and 60th minutes to book their place in the semi finals where they will face Mexico who defeated Trinidad and Tobago who battled in the last quarter final match last night.
Also advancing to the final four were the host nation Dominican Republic (ranked 11) which beat Jamaica (ranked 6) 2-1 and the #1 ranked USA which took care of the #3 ranked Canada, 4-0.
The ‘Lady Jags’ performance were all the more commendable as Haiti would have scored at least seven (7) goals in all their previous matches in this championship.
Guyana were forced to replace the starting goalkeeper Aneesa O’Brien who came down with an injury in the 22nd minute and was replaced by substitute, Raven Edwards-Doedall for her second match of the championship.
Another substitution was made at the start of the second half, 46th minute, Serena McDonald making way for Samantha Banfield, while their third came in the 73rd minute, Kiana Khedoo being replaced by Tiandi Smith.
The young Guyanese created a few chances of their own but were not allowed to be much of a threat to the seasoned Haitians who dominated proceedings.
GFF Technical Director Ian Greenwood who has been shaping the forward thrust of the game at every level in Guyana commented on the performance of the ‘Lady Jags’: “The GFF family offers congratulations to one and all, the technical staff, the players, and the support group and players families on an amazing journey in the Concacaf Championships. Excellent attention to detail by the technical and coaching staff throughout was focused on. Heart, self-belief and discipline all competition from the players – true Jaguars; the best is yet to come as we will get stronger with each tournament. Lets’ continue to build. One Team, One Dream.”
Starting X1: 1. Aneesa O’Brien, 11. Jenea Knight, 2. Anaya Johnson 4. Brianne Desa (Captain) 3. Jessica Myers, 5. Jade Vyfhuis, 8. Serena McDonald, 13. Shanice Alfred, 10. Kiana Khedoo 7. Nailah Rowe, 9. Audrey Narine
Subs: 20. Raven Edwards-Doedall, 14. Hailey David, 18. Sydney Puddicombe, 6. Tiandi Smith, 12. Tori DeNobrega, 15. Samantha Banfield, 19. Horicia Adams, 16. Shamya Daniels.