T&T’s Under-17 Soca Princesses will come up against Puerto Rico in the first of two semifinals at the 2013 Caribbean Football Union Women’s Cup at the Stade Sylvio Cator from 4 pm today.
This after the Marlon Charles-coached T&T women came up big when needed with a 5-1 spanking of Dominican Republic in their Final Group B match on Wednesday night to cement second spot in the four-team group behind Bermuda which tackles host Haiti in tonight’s other semifinals.
T&T got goals from Khaline Jacob (2), Corel Carmichael, Shanelle Arjoon, and Maya Matouk.
Summer Arjoon displayed a brilliant solo run through the heart of the Dominican defence and passed the ball to Khaline Jacob, who fired a cannon into the roof of the nets for a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute.
Jacob wasn’t finished yet as in the 42nd minute she collected a pass from Eden Charles in the 18 yard box and easily put it past Yelandy Contreras in the Dominican Republic goal.
The Dominican girls made the game interesting in the 72nd minute when Ana Taveras threaded a lovely low cross to an advancing Sosa to hit past Trinidad and Tobago’s goalie Rebecca-Ann Almandoz making it 2-1.
Any hopes of a dramatic comeback were dashed when Corel Carmichael broke through the Dominican offside trap and with only the goalkeeper to beat easily dribbled around her and escorted the ball over the goal-line in the 78th minute.
Arjoon who was spectacular in midfield for the Trinidadian ladies, added to the score-line in the 81st minute with a spectacular volley to the back of the nets. Matouk put the icing on the cake in the 88th minute when she connected on a corner from Arjoon and had no trouble in scoring past Contreras making it 5-1. With the win, T&T ended with six points, three behind Bermuda which defeated Grenada in Wednesday’s earlier match to top the pool with maximum points.
The Soca Princesses entered the match on three points after trouncing Grenada 10-0 in their opener before suffering a shock 1-0 loss to Bermuda.
In the win over Grenada, five goals were scored by Zoe Swift in the first-half while Chevonne John scored two with headers another two from Carmichael and one from Arjoon.