Barbican faced Waterhouse in the second semifinal of the Sherwin Williams Women’s Premier League on Wednesday November 13th at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex carrying a slim 2-1 lead from the first leg semifinal.
Barbican faced Waterhouse in the second semifinal of the Sherwin Williams Women’s Premier League on Wednesday November 13th at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex carrying a slim 2-1 lead from the first leg semifinal.
Fans were hoping that this game would be more exciting than the drab opening encounter between GC Foster College and Harbour View.
They did not have to worry, as before most people were properly settled into their seats, National Under-20 representative Shantal Bailey scored for Barbican to extend the aggregate lead to 3-1 for the five times defending champions in only the third minute.
Waterhouse manager Michael Lowe had promised that they would give Barbican a night of good football and it certainly looked on the cards when his captain Tasheka Small provided a swift response three minutes later.
Waterhouse were awarded a free kick about 10 yards outside the box and Small stepped up to fire home from distance to level the scores on the day and reduce the overall deficit to 3-2. The Barbican keeper, Abbigale Palmer, should have done better.
The teams were unable to maintain the pace or scoring of the opening period and the game settled into a pattern with Barbican attacking mainly down the right and Waterhouse down their left without producing much more goalmouth action.
The half ended 1-1 with the game still pretty much in the balance.
The balance of power was swiftly shifted after the break when Waterhouse defenders was caught napping. A left sided attack culminated in a neat give and go between Jodi-Ann McGregor and Tashana Vincent on the edge of the area. As the Waterhouse defenders sat back McGregor collected the return pass and side-footed the ball into the corner of the net while the Waterhouse custodian Shantel Graham stood and watched. With the aggregate score line now 4-2 the tie was almost good as over.
From then on it was one way traffic as the Charles Edwards coached Barbican team turned the screws on their opponents. McGregor who has been below her best this season, had one of her better games on the night, controlling the midfield and the tempo of the game along with former captain Alicia James who has returned from a long term knee injury.
With less than ten minutes left on the clock Tashana Vincent had a glorious opportunity to get on the score sheet following another left sided attack from Barbican. She turned smartly and got past her marker only to see her shot rebound off the base of the post. McGregor was quickest to react to the loose ball and smashed it home to make it 3-1 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate.
Captain Philisha Lewis added gloss to the scoreline when she headed home a in swinging left sided corner from James in time added to complete the scoring, 4-1 on the night and 6-2 overall.
Photo: Jodi-Ann McGregor scored a brace for Barbican
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