Dumornay’s hat-trick sends Lady Jags packing

CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championships

Guyana’s campaign in the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championships came to a disappointing end on Wednesday evening as they conceded a 3-0 loss to Haiti in the quarter-final round.
Coming up against the team with the highest goal accumulation in the 2020 tournament, the Guyanese ladies were aware of the difficulty this hurdle would pose. Nonetheless, a starting XI of Anessa O Brien; Jenea Knight; Anaya Johnson; Brianne Desa (Captain); Jessica Myers; Jade Vuyfhuis; Serena Mc Donald; Kiana Khedoo; Nailah Rowe; Shanice Alfred and Audrey Narine was selected to kick-start the quarter-final encounter against Haiti.
With four on the back line, as opposed to five in their highly competitive game against Mexico in the group stage, Guyana managed to hold off Haiti’s top strikers like Valentina Ornis and Dayana Pierre. However, it was the tournament’s highest goal-scorer Melchie Dumornay who blasted the nets for Haiti’s first goal in the 15th minute. It went downhill for Guyana as their goalkeeper Anessa O Brien picked up an injury and had to be substituted in the 22nd.
Coming in to guard the nets was Raven Edwards- Doedall, who did an impressive job at holding on to Haiti’s many shots at the goal. Much commendation must be given to the Guyanese defence and even the midfield, who worked tirelessly to ensure that Haiti would be restricted. To make matters worse for Guyana’s opponents, they seemed unable to finish their plays, missing the goal by miles on many occasions. One such instance was when Valentina Ornis was within range of the nets and had already beaten the Guyanese keeper, but as fate would have it, Ornis’ kick was much too hard, sailing over the crossbar.
Guyana’s halftime talk seemed to be very effective as they came out all guns blazing in the second segment. Nailah Rowe had the first of Guyana’s real chances when she took a set piece in the 50th minute. The shot was on point, but Haiti’s keeper, Madelina Fleuriot fisted it out of harm’s way.
Dumornay soon returned to continue her one-woman scoring party, as she found the back of the net in the 54th minute for her second goal. The 16-year-old was not quite done as she tucked in the ball a third time for Haiti’s three in the 60th minute, taking her goals in the tournament to 13.
Dumornay is now tied for the career highest goals in the tournament – 14 goals, having scored one goal in her first outing in the CONCACAF U-20 Championships.
Guyana, with minimal ball possession, found it difficult to find the back of the net or even get close to the area, and as such, could not find a reply to Haiti’s dominance.
Haiti have now advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament, along with the USA, who thumped Canada 4-0 and the Dominican Republic, who stunned Jamaica in a 2-1 game.