Photo: Khadija Shaw (#10) wheels away after scoring to make it 3-1 to St. Jago in their semi-final against St. Elizabeth Technical.
Defending champions Excelsior High School will do battle with St.Jago High School in the final of the ISSA/KFC schoolgirl football competition at the Spanish Town Prison Oval this afternoon starting at 3:00pm in a repeat of last year’s final. Both teams got to the final following contrasting semi-final wins on Monday.
Photo: Khadija Shaw (#10) wheels away after scoring to make it 3-1 to St. Jago in their semi-final against St. Elizabeth Technical.
Defending champions Excelsior High School will do battle with St.Jago High School in the final of the ISSA/KFC schoolgirl football competition at the Spanish Town Prison Oval this afternoon starting at 3:00pm in a repeat of last year’s final. Both teams got to the final following contrasting semi-final wins on Monday.
St Jago had to come from behind to defeat St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) 3-1 in the day’s first game. St. Jago wasted a number of easy opportunities in the first half and were punished ten minutes after the restart when Roheema Bennett slotted home from close range for STETHS.
Rachel Walters drew the game level for last year’s beaten finalists when she fired home from just inside the area, ten minutes after the STETHS goal and the St. Jago fans were still celebrating when Sydoney Clarke gave her school the lead just three minutes later. The game was made safe three minutes from time when national under-17 captain Khadija Shaw went on a mazy run past three defenders before poking into the far corner for a deserved 3-1 win to the St. Jago team.
The second semi-final between Excelsior and Lennon High was filled with high drama and both teams had to be separated by penalty kicks. A scoreless but entertaining first half gave way to a fascinating second half.
Just four minutes after the second half whistle, the smallest player on the park Tatyana Pitter, opened the scoring with a beautiful chipped effort over the Lennon keeper to give her team the 1-0 lead.
Lennon did not hang their heads, but came back fighting and were pulled level by Shantel Thompson in the 53rd minute when she scored from the penalty spot, just three minutes after Nicole Broderick had hit the upright for Excelsior.
Ten minutes later, Lennon were ahead when Rhonda Rhoomes headed in from a corner kick. But Excelsior proved that they were made of stern stuff and were level just sixty seconds later when Broderick blasted home from close range.
There were no more goals in regulation or extra time and the penalty shoot-out would prove to be high drama.
National representative Imani Richards who plays sweeper for Excelsior, took over the goalkeeping duties for her team in the shoot-out but it was her Lennon counterpart who did all the damage early on. Excelsior, who shot first, scored their first two kicks as did Lennon, but on the third and fourth efforts, the Lennon keeper came up with two huge saves.
Lennon scored their third penalty to lead 3-2 but made the mistake of celebrating too early and lost their focus. Richards then came up with two vital saves while Excelsior scored their last to end the regulation 5 kicks tied at 3-3.
The next Excelsior kicker screwed her effort horribly wide handing Lennon another chance to win the game. Richards came up trumps again to keep her school in it and after Jameila Henry held her nerve to put Excelsior 4-3 ahead, Richards pulled off yet another brilliant save to send her team back into the final with a chance to defend their crown.
The final will be preceded by the third-fourth play-off between STETHS and Lennon starting at 1:00pm.
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