Charles’ strike gets Lady Jags past Suriname

Guyana’s senior women’s national football team, the Lady Jags, maintained their dominance in Group A of League B in the CONCACAF Road to W Gold Cup, with another victory over Suriname on Sunday evening at the Dr IR Franklin Essed Stadium in Paramaribo.

With a starting XI comprising Captain and Goalkeeper Chante Sandiford, Sydney Cummings, Briana De Souza, Brianne Desa, Justine Rodrigues, Samantha Banfield, Stefani Kouzas, Anya Tribune, Dylana Makarowski, Jalade Trim and Otesha Charles, the aim for the Guyanese team was to draw out another positive result, similar to their meeting with Suriname at the same venue just days ago.
After an attempt from Suriname within the first 10 minutes of the encounter, Guyana struck early in the 24th minute and employed their defences for the remainder of the 90 minutes.

From a set piece, Cummings sent the shot into the box which the Surinamese goal keeper Mayra Tjin A Koeng misread. As A Koeng charged, Guyana’s Charles initially made contact with her head first and finished it off with a strong right foot into the net.
While back passes to the goalkeeper, Sandiford, created brief moments of panic for the Guyanese team, the defence managed to hold their wits for the narrow victory.
The 1-0 win secures the Lady Jags the number one position in the Group A, with nine points from four games. With two more games to go in the November-December window, the top finisher in the Group will book a place in the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup preliminaries, set for 2024.