Debe bags girls intercol title

Debe edged Roxborough 1-0 on Tuesday to take the Big Four title for a third time as well. The South Zone powerhouse team beat the visitors 4-1 yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo to add a fifth title to its trophy case which already includes the South Zone, South InterCol, Trinidad InterCol and Big Four titles.

Anticipating that Roxborough would do better to contain national U-17 mid-fielder Kayla Taylor this time around, Debe coach, Arnold Murphy opted to play Taylor in centre midfield rather than up front as in previous matches.

As a result, Amanda Theodore (32nd minute), Chenelle Ajoon (50th) and Mariscia Adams (64th) were able to get their names on the scorecard, while Taylor scored a meagre one goal by her standards in the 73rd minute. Roxborough looked much better than in Tuesday’s match, producing a lot more pressure than they had in the Big Four final.

The Tobago side did well to keep Taylor from advancing very far from midfield, but Debe proved that the U-17 player is not the only one capable of scoring in its team.

Debe were ahead at the end of the first half thanks to Theodore’s 32nd minute strike, but were on the backfoot 10 minutes later, when goal keeper, Linfah Jones misread a volley from N’Jemile Charles that brought the score level.

Five minutes after the resumption, Ajoon had her name on the scorecard and later Adams before Taylor would finally break through the defence to slot one home herself.

Speaking after the match, Debe captain, Patrice Vincent, who took up the reigns after former captain and national player, Mariah Shade, said she was very proud of her team.

Vincent made note of the change where Taylor was concerned, explained that it paid off for them in the end as the match turned out to be their best this season.

“Today we did not use Kayla too much, we tried to use a new strategy and this was one of the best games we had,” she said.

Vincent explained that Taylor needed the rest, “Kayla really overworked herself over the past three years with national training so her legs are not going as they usually do.

“The other girls can play, the problem is just finishing, but we talked about it a lot and did some ball work and it showed out there today on the field.” Also sharing her joy of winning the InterCol title for a third year was Jones, who has now conceded just five goals in three years.

“It really nice to win three times in a row, especially with people I enjoy playing with, that’s the most important thing, being with people you care about and would fight for,” said Jones. The match was the final in this year’s season.