Captain Afiyah Cornwall continued where she left off from the warm-ups, netting four goals to see T&T open with a win in Group F of the Concacaf Women's Under-2o Football Championships in the Dominican Republic, on Sunday.
T&T began action in the group with a 6-0 victory over St Kitts and Nevis at the Estadio Panamericano, San Cristobal in Santo Domingo.
"It's an amazing feeling to come away with a win in our first match. The girls did what the coaches taught us to do and I hope we can continue this form for the remainder of the tournament,” said Cornwall after the win.
"I'm proud of my performance. I’m just happy to have played my part in getting the three points. The last goal was amazing and it couldn’t have come at a better time to cap off the win for us. Like I said, the important thing for us was to get the win and hopefully we can keep on growing as the tournament goes on."
It was all Cornwall in the first half, with her scoring boot on target as early as the third minute latching onto a cross from Marie-Frances Serran to give T&T the opening goal.
Cornwall, who scored a hat-trick for T&T in its warm-ups against Puerto Rico (3-0) last week, then beat St Kitts and Nevis' last defender and put the ball past goal-keeper Quinn Josiah up in the right corner in the 24th in a play initiated by Tori Paul.
Moments later, Cornwall almost got her hat-trick but her shot was saved by goal-keeper Josiah.
Following the hydration break, Paul went out with an ankle injury and was replaced by Aaliyah Prince in the 43rd in a match dominated by T&T, which led 2-0 heading into the half.
But Cornwall wasn't quite finished yet and completed her hat-trick in stoppage time going past four defenders, hitting the ball from the right side across the face of the goal and there was nothing goal-keeper Josiah could do to prevent T&T from going up 3-0.
Down on the other end, Caribbean neighbour St Kitts and Nevis, in the red uniform, only had one shot at goal in the lopsided first half but it went wide.
On the resumption, not even a minute had past and it was first-half substitute Prince slipping one by Josiah in the 46th to give the team dressed in the white kit, a 4-0 advantage. T&T showed no signs of slowing down.
St Kitts and Nevis almost pulled one back in the 50th but Jahzara Claxton went wide.
Soon after St Kitts and Nevis' coach Orrin Huges opted to replace keeper Josiah with Craivecia Sutton. However, the change had no effect on T&T as a deflection off Serran in the midfield saw her make one touch and got around goalkeeper Sutton to finish and gave T&T its fifth item in the 58th and the rout was on.
Cramps started to take its toll on the St Kitts players as several of them went down and had to be stretched by teammates and medical staff.
But T&T footballers had no sympathy though and kept attacking with Cayla MacFarlane and Prince taking unsuccessful shots at goal but it was the captain, who found the back of the net with a beautifully taken strike by Cornwall in the 90+3, to help T&T seal the huge victory.
Up next for the Richard Hood-coached T&T will be the Cayman Islands on Tuesday at 1 pm and then on Thursday against Haiti at 4 pm.
Line ups
T&T: 1 Klil Kewhwar (GK), 3 Nathifa Hacksaw (Arnelle Douglas, 62), 4 Lathifa Pascall, 5 Tsai-Anne Fernandez, 6 Aaliyah Pascall, 7 Sarah Degannes, 8 Marie-Frances Serran, 9 Afiyah Cornwall (captain), 11 Chrissy Mitchell, 12 Cayla McFarlene (10 Alexcia Ali, 79), 20 Tori Paul (19 Aaliyah Prince, 43).
Unused Subs: Chelsea Ramnauth, Roshun Williams, Sydni Greaves, Megan Rampersad, Moenesa Mejias, Celine Loraine
St Kitts: 1 Quinn Josiah (GK) (2 Craivecia Sutton, 53), 4 Kaleah Smith, 6 Christi-Anne Mills (captain) (15 Hadassah St Juste, 72), 7 Zonia Marshall, 8 Kaylee Bennett, 9 Jahzara Claxton, 10 Jasonna Williams,11 Iyanla Bailey-Williams, 14 Eve Richards, 16 Jollincia Clarke (13 Jarencia Jeffers, 46), 20 Shitoncia Stapleton.