T&T’s Under-20 women footballers will be keen to boost their goal difference when they come up against Dominica in their second match in Group E of the Concacaf Under-20 Women’s Championships at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Balmain, Couva from 7pm on Sunday night.
This after the Dernelle Mascall-coached Soca Princesses blanked Bermuda 3-0, led by a brace from Orielle Martin in their opening match on Friday night, but are second in the four-team group on goal difference after Canada clobbered Dominica 22-0, inspired by Kaylee Hunter’s five goals, a beaver trick from Natelle El Mokbel, and hat tricks by Lea La Rouche and Kierra Blundell.
Commenting on her team’s performance, Mascall put the slow start on her players being nervous.
A former national midfielder, Mascall said, “If you look at the composition of our team, for the Under-20 players this is their first time at CONCACAF, and clearly in the first half nerves were glaring, and we weren’t able to put down the ball and play like we trained.”
On Friday, after a scrappy first half of play that failed to produce any sustained goal-mouth activity at both ends of the field, coach Mascall’s halftime ‘pep talk’ seemed to spark life in the host with Martin, who netted four goals in last month’s Concacaf Under-17 Qualifiers to earn T&T a spot in the 12-team Final Round, finally breaking the deadlock for the Soca Princesses in the 66th minute.
A student at Bishop Anstey East, Martin latched onto a through ball from Cherina Steele, and with Bermuda defender Samara Darrell in close proximity, unleashed a shot off her left foot back across goalkeeper Taya Rodrigues for a 1-0 lead.
Eleven minutes later, substitute Madison Campbell, who replaced the injured Mikaela Yearwood in the 24th minute after she was bundled over by Bermudan Breanna De Silva, doubled T&T’s lead when her long-range free kick from on the right flank was badly misjudged by Rodrigues in the Bermudan goal.
Rodrigues raced off her line to collect the ball, but it took a wicked bounce and looped over her head, and despite getting her right hand on it, she failed to stop the ball from entering the net.
T&T then wasted chances to add to their tally with Ariana Bornero and substitute Ty’kaia Dennis both missing chances after being set up by Martin.
With the three points in the bag, Martin still had time to add a third item for T&T on the night from the penalty spot after she was brought down in the 18-yard box by defender Christia Lugo-Elibox.
However, Canada sits at the top of the four-team group on goal difference after a lopsided 22-0 mauling of Dominica.
Larouche opened Canada’s goal count in the fifth minute with a right-footed shot before Hunter scored in the seventh and Sienna Gibson two minutes later for a 3-0 lead inside the first ten minutes.
Jadea Collin gave Canada its fourth goal in the 11th while Hunter got her brace in the 22nd before
Larouche scored back-to-back goals in the area, sealing her hat trick and the sixth and seventh goals for Canada in the 27th and 31st minutes, respectively’.
The eighth goal for Canada came from a header by Ava Greco in the 36th, and a minute later, Chinonyerem Chukwu netted the ninth goal for the Canucks.
A low left-footed shot by Hunter in the 45th completed her hat trick and Canada’s tenth goal of the night.
Chukwu closed the first half getting her brace from the penalty spot in the 45’+3’ while
Blundell scored the 12th goal for Canada in the 48th, with a left-footed shot in the box.
Hunter scored her fourth goal of the match in the 54th, and she put the ball back in the net again from the penalty spot in the 61st’.
El Mokbel put her name in the scoresheet in the 65th from a free kick outside the box, while Blundell got a brace with a header in the box in the 69th’.
Iba Oching added the 17th goal for Canada in the 73rd before El Mokbel completed her brace in the 75th and the 18th goal for the two-time champions.
Collin got her second goal and 19th for Canada in the 76th, while Blundell scored her third in the 88th with El Mokbel also completing her treble with a late double in the 90th and 90+2.
Group F of the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s qualifiers involving Costa Rica, Guatemala, the Cayman Islands, and Aruba is also being contested in Couva, with the second day of matches being played yesterday while the final match day is Monday.
The four remaining qualifying series are being held in Antigua and Barbuda (Group A), the Dominican Republic (Groups B and C), and Nicaragua (Group D).
At the end of round-robin play, the first-place team from the six groups will advance to the 2025 Concacaf Under-20 Women’s Championship, joining the two pre-seeded top-ranked nations, USA and Mexico.
The Championship Stage will include eight team contested two groups of four in a to-be-confirmed centralised venue in May, from which the group winners and runners-up will advance to the semifinals and qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.
The semifinal winners will advance to the final, where the champion will be crowned.
In the previous edition of the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championship, played in the Dominican Republic in 2023, Mexico defeated the USA 2-1 in the final, earning their second title at this age level.
