By BVIFA
The BVI U17 Girls’ team weathered some storms both on and off the field during the recent 2015 Caribbean Football Union World Cup Qualification Tournament in Nevis. Photo: BVIFA
The U17 Girls’ team weathered some storms both on and off the field during the recent Caribbean Football Union World Cup Qualification Tournament in Nevis, but regardless of results not going quite according to plan, overall their performance was encouraging and as a team they showed some bright signs for the future.
The first Game against St Kitts and Nevis, played at the Elquemedo Willett Park on Nevis was a 3-1 defeat to the hosts, but the second half performance was one that pleased Coach Katie Rowson.
“St Kitts and Nevis raced into a 3-0 lead by half time, but the second half belonged to the BVI as the girls out shone their opponents, just lacking the final touch in front of goal,” said Rowson. “The girls kept their shape well throughout, although did not do well at some of the basics. It was 3-0 at half time. The girls were brilliant in the second half and closed down, marked up and their movement was fantastic. It ended 3-1, we scored from a penalty. I was very happy with the performance in the second half and thought that the result was a fair one and better than expected before the competition.”
The second game was against Caribbean power houses, Trinidad and Tobago and it didn’t take long for the BVI girls to realize that they were up against a whole new level of football.
“A very disappointing game/performance/result for us,” noted Rowson. “T & T were a different level – we ‘parked the bus’ from 20 minutes into the first half, but it was still 3-0 by half time. We changed the line up for the second half and actually played better, but T and T kept pushing scoring 5 more with two scored in the last two minutes – very disappointing.”
In the final group game against Dominica, the girls were unlucky to not at least claim a point, as after Dominica had grabbed the lead, the BVI bounced back to equalize inside the last 15 minutes. However Dominica stole all three points with a late winner in a 2-1 defeat.
“A very close game with two errors leading to conceding a goal in each half. We scored from following in a free kick from Katie Lowery, with Emily Lowery heading it in. Our shape was very good and we were more organized. It was extremely disappointing to lose the game but felt that our games against Dominica and St Kitts showed that we are not too far away from other teams,” said Rowson.
BVIFA President, Mr. Andy Bickerton, was pleased with the performances from what was a group of young inexperienced girls. “It is good that we were competitive in all of the games. We fielded a very young team with the majority of the girls aged between 12 and 15 so they will still be eligible for this age group for a number of years,” said Bickerton. “We are very much in a developmental stage in women’s football so we are encouraged to see the progress our girls continue to make. They represented the BVI well both on and off the field and the BVIFA are very proud of them.”
