Shania Lewis definitely has the formula for scoring goals.
The 17-year-old striker of Tranquility Government Secondary School is the leading scorer in the North Zone of the Girls Championship Division and is likely one of the top scorers in the Shell/First Citizen Secondary Schools Football League, with an impressive 40 goals.
Lewis grabbed much attention in her team’s opening win of the season lighting up the nets with 10 goals to beat Deigo Martin central 13-1 on September 17 and returned in the second round against the same team and hit six more on October 5. And in between that the Lower Sixth student scored a pair of goals in a number of matches in the six-team competition.
“I scored 40 goals this season and it feels great,” said Lewis of Carenage. “With the help of my coaches Curtis Brereton and Miss Anastasia Griffith, who is behind me and inspired me to keep going and scoring goals.”
Both Brereton and Griffith have double roles on the Tranquility team, the former also serves as the trainer and Griffith, the manager. Brereton in an interview last week praised the young player, citing that she takes instructions well.
He said, “She listens to her coaches. If I tell her to aim at five goals this game or six in the other, she does that. I basically tell her to always keep your name on the scoresheet and she has done that. She will be a good player.”
Not surprising for the forward, who has fashioned her game to that of two outstanding scorers in the football world.
“My favourite local player is Kevin Molino and my favourite international player is Lionel Messi,” she said. Molino, who currently competes with Minnesota United in Major League Soccer (MLS), has 35 caps for T&T and 16 goals in the MLS and thus far this season, Messi, who plays with Barcelona in the Spanish League has netted 11 goals in 10 matches played.
“They both inspire me,” said Lewis, who was nicknamed “Yaya Toure” by her cousins. Toure is a central midfielder with Manchester City that competes in the English Premier League. In his career with the club he has scored 82 goals.
Clearly her cousins saw something special early in Tranquility’s biggest scoring threat.
Lewis’ outstanding play helped her team cop the North Zone title the previous weekend after tallying 27 points from 10 matches after two rounds of round-robin play for the 2017 regular season, winning nine matches and losing just once.
If she continues along this path, the daughter of Garth Lewis and Kathyann Seechan, will be a great prospect for T&T women’s football programme.
“My plan for the future is to play for the national team and make my country proud,” said Lewis, who has four siblings.
Her focus now though will be to lead her team to the “Big Four” title and later on hopefully, the national title.
With the guidance of her coaches and boost from her family Lewis will look to continue her scoring ways when Tranquility match skills against a tough Signal Hill team, which played undefeated to claim the Tobago Zone crown, in the Big Four semifinals on Wednesday. If successful, the North leader will meet the winner of the other semifinal between East champion St Augustine and Pleasantville Secondary, the South Zone title-holder.