CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championships: Haiti scores late to send Guyana packing
Guyana’s under-20 women’s football team the Lady Jags made a valiant exit at the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championships on Saturday night, succumbing to Haiti in a 2-1 encounter.
The Guyana women’s under-20 team, the Lady Jags
In this particular event, the two teams hold a long history, Haiti being the very team that knocked out Guyana in the 2020 edition of the tournament. However, the younger Lady Jags were close to exacting sweet revenge on their Caribbean counterparts before a last-minute goal shattered their dreams.
In the goal, and performing Captain duties was Anessa O’Brien, while Valentina Khan, Shamya Daniels, Jenea Knight, Jessica Myers, Savannnah Mordesir-Singh, Audrey Narine, Kiana Khedoo, Samantha Banfield, Dylana Makarowski and Inari Moore constituted the remainder of Guyana’s starting XI at the Panamericano Stadium in the Dominican Republic.
Guyana started well, in spite of Haiti’s tenacity, and even drew first blood with an Inari Moore goal in the 37th minute. Haiti turned on the pressure from that moment, but just could not find the back of the net, even as they controlled possession and had a slew of chances in front of the goal.
Their salvation did not come until the second half, when Maudeline Moryl got past O’ Brien in the 58th minute to level the scores.
Both teams tightened their defenses, making for an entertaining second segment of the game. In the final minutes, just when it looked as though Guyana would hold on until the end of regulation time, a goal kick that failed to make it past Guyana’s half was collected by a Haitian forward.
A couple passes and an assist later, Valentina Ornis took a shot at the goal from the corner of the box, and easily got past Guyana’s custodian, to break the lock and score the winning goal.
With their 2-1 victory over Guyana, Haiti advance to the quarterfinals, where they would encounter the likes of USA, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala and Puerto Rico.
On the other hand, the loss has ended Guyana’s campaign in the 2022 Women’s Under-20 Championships.
