By BIVFA
BVIFA Under 13 Boys team took third place trophy in the Easter Tournament hosted in St Maarten, March 25 – 26.
The BVI Football Association’s Under 13 Boys team returned home from an Easter tournament in St Maarten with the 3rd place trophy proudly tucked under their arms.
The tournament, which featured several of the region’s top teams, was hosted by St Maarten and took place over the Easter weekend. The boys arrived in St Maarten on Good Friday morning and then faced their arch rivals from previous visits, Risk Takers, in the afternoon.
The boys settled into the game from the start and ran out comfortable 2-0 winners with goals from Luca Reich and Luka Chalwell.
On Saturday, Luka Chalwell scored twice as the boys beat United Stars 2-0 and Chalwell was on hand again to net the equalizer in a 1-1 draw with St Maarten.
The boys then won the penalty shoot out, 4-2, to decide the final group placings and went on to face Dutch St Maarten in the semi final.
Denvin Jones put the BVI team ahead, but then Dutch St Maarten equalized, forcing the boys to defend as it seemed an age for the referee to decide the game was over. The penalty shoot out was another tense affair with Alejandro Santos particularly aggrieved to have to retake his successful penalty for no apparent reason and to add injury to insult the Dutch Boys scored the decisive spot kick for a 6-5 victory.
Despite the disappointment, the BVI picked themselves up and beat Martinique 1-0 to secure 3rd place, with Chalwell again scoring.
“The happiest I have ever been at a tournament,” commented Coach Cassandra Gregg. “The boys played without fear, full of confidence and deserved a place in the final. We were unbeaten apart from a penalty shoot out and could have easily gone on to win the whole thing. They practiced so hard for this, executed everything that was asked of them tactically and with a little more luck, especially with referee decisions, we would have gone all the way. However I am really proud of all of them.”
The majority of the squad will stick together to prepare for the U15 CONCACAF Tournament in 2017, whilst all of the players will be back at practice at the Digicel Centre of Excellence from the 16th April at Baughers Bay.
