Saint Lucia is in the driver’s seat when it comes to winning the 2019 Windward Islands Senior Women’s Football Tournament, which kicked off Tuesday evening at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground (DSCG). Saint Lucia won both their games, so a victory or even a tie today, Saturday, against Grenada, and the championship is theirs. Two games are scheduled for this evening. At 6:00 pm Dominica play St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and at 8:00 pm it’s Grenada v. Saint Lucia.
The tournament continued Thursday evening at the DSCG with Saint Lucia defeating SVG 1-0. Captain Elissa Marquis scored the only goal of the game on a penalty kick. In the first game of the doubleheader that evening, Dominica scored a late goal to earn a 1-1 tie with defending champions Grenada.
In games played Tuesday evening, SVG shutout Grenada in the first encounter 1-0 and Saint Lucia got past Dominica 3-2 with Marquis again scoring the winning goal. In Tuesday’s first game, following a tentative start, Grenada came into their own and, despite pressuring their opponents, were unable to find the back of the net. They were also thwarted by some fine saves from the Vincentian goalkeeper.
In the 30th minute Grenada was rewarded with a free kick just outside the 18-yard box, with the resulting kick ricocheting off the cross bar to be cleared by the defence. Five minutes later, St Vincent and the Grenadines were on the receiving end of a free kick about 30 yards out on the left flank. The right curling kick was barely tipped by the keeper off the crossbar for a corner kick. The well taken corner landed at the feet of a Vincy player whose right boot rebounded off the crossbar to be cleared away. Grenada, in a counter attack, seemed to have forged ahead, only for the goal to be ruled offside. They were presented with another opportunity, but again the goalkeeper saved the night. The half ended 0–0.
The second half saw St Vincent and the Grenadines being more purposeful. They were soon rewarded with a goal by Kristiane Wilkie in the 50th minute. Grenada immediately went on the offensive but two fine saves by their opponent’s goalkeeper denied them. Both teams engaged in a number of attacking and counter exchanges, which saw the goalkeepers executing some fine saves. And how ironic it was for the game to end with the Vincentian goalkeeper pulling off a telling save at the the final whistle, as SVG clung on to their 1–0 advantage.
The second game between Saint Lucia and Dominica got off to a cracker. Before the home team could settle down they found themselves trailing 1–0, courtesy of a goal in the second minute of play by Sherzelle Phillip. This served as a wake-call and the Saint Lucia team soon got into their stride, with Kayla Lionel scoring the equalizer in the 18th minute. As St Lucia continued taking the game to their opponents they were rewarded with the second goal from the boots of Illana Lashley in the 39th minute. Try as both teams might, no further goals were scored and the half ended 2–1 in favour of Saint Lucia.
The game meandered back and forth at the resumption, which saw Dominica equalizing in the 49th minute with a goal by Kylee Bertram. It was soon 3–2 as Captain Elissa scored from a soaring corner kick which eluded the Dominican custodian to land in the back of the net in the 59th minute. Dominica kept on pressing their opponents but stout defending by the Saint Lucia defence, coupled with some fine saves by their goalkeeper, kept them in the hunt. When the final whistle sounded it was a relieved and jubilant Saint Lucia who were basking in their 3–2 victory.
During a press conference Saint Lucian coach Trevor Anderson stated the obvious in simple terms: “Well our objective was always to score more goals than the opponent so that means we had to win that game.” Trailing 1-0 in the first five minutes of the game, Marquis was asked, as Captain of Saint Lucia, what was going through her mind. “The only thing for me was to motivate the team and keep our heads in the game,” she said. “I mean, one goal in the first five minutes; we have still have 40 minutes to go in the first half, plus another 45 minutes to go in the game. I just wanted to keep the team motivated and continue fighting.”
