The Guyana Women’s “Lady Jags” Football team continued to impress yesterday as competition continued in the T & C Football Festival with another dominating performance to beat the Turks & Caicos U20 team by 5 goals to nil. This followed a similar score margin in their opening game the previous day when they played a T&C Select team.
The ‘Lady Jags” entered the game with much more confidence than the previous game but it was the T & C U20 team who had the first shot on the Guyana goal in the 2nd minute of play, the shot being saved by Lady Jags goalkeeper Bailey McKendrick.
The Guyanese responded immediately with a counter attack resulting in a corner, which was headed towards the T & C goal but saved by the T & C goalkeeper.
The pressure continued and once again the “Lady Jags” were on the scoreboard early when in the 4th minute Ashley Rodrigues broke in on the left side of the defence hammering a left footed shot to right upper ninety area of the goal rocking the T & C net. This resulted in a loud roar from the Guyanese supporters. By this time word had spread across the island of the “Lady Jags” and Guyanese came out in huge numbers to support their team.
Just like game one the Guyanese continued their dominance on the field to a very athletic and physical T & C U20 team, but the constant attack by the Lady Jags resulted in numerous shots and corners for the Guyanese team.
The “Lady Jags” scored again in the 12th minute and again in the 38th minute through goals by Nikkita Persaud and Ashley Rodrigues to advance the score to 3-0. At this point the first substitutions were made with Kaitlyn Wong You and Roxanne Stephen replacing Ashley Rodrigues and Ashley Savona respectively. Odessa Romeo then replaced Justine Rodrigues.
Shortly after it was 4-0 for the Lady Jags with a shot taken by Kaitlyn Wong You, following her first shot which rebounded off the crossbar of the T & C crossbar.
The second half continued much the same as the first half with Guyana dominating the game while the few runs by the T&C team was thwarted with efficiency by the Guyana defense or saved by the goalkeeper.
Guyana went ahead 5-0 in the 57th minute with Ashley Rodrigues completing her hat trick after receiving a ball just outside the penalty area, dribbling the center back and goalkeeper, before unleashing a rocket to the back of the T & C net. Shortly after, Technical Director Mark Rodrigues injected all the substitutes into the game so as not to expose his main players to the aggression of the T & C players.
The Game ended 5-0 for Guyana with Briana DeSouza being named game MVP by the Technical staff as her stellar defensive play continued. The coaching staff had moved her out of her center back position to defensive center mid, to ease the pressure on Rehanna Murani (The Lady Jags playmaker), who was then free to roam and create numerous goal scoring opportunities.
At the end of the game the “Lady Jags” did a lap of honor showing appreciation by waving and shaking hands with the many Guyanese supporters who turned up to see the game.
The “Lady Jags” will now face Bethseda FC who also won their previous two games by scores of 4-0 against the T &C U20 team and 9-0 against the T&C Select team. This will indeed be a true test for the Lady Jags as Bethseda FC is not only the number one team in Maryland USA, but also have been playing together for many years.
Game time is 4:00 pm local
Starting-Lineup
Bailey McKendrick - GK
Alison Heydorn
Alyssa Budhoo
Ashley Rodrigues
Ashley Savona
Briana DeSouza
Donna Carvalhal
Kayla DeSouza
Nikkita Persad
Rehana Murani
Justine Rodrigues
Substitutes
Leonie Robinson
Kaitlyn Wong You
Bailey McKendrick
Odessa Rameo
Roxanne Stephen
Tarissa Stanislaus
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