T&T Women Soca Warriors will be confident of topping the Caribbean Football Unions Olympic Qualifiers finals when they come up against Puerto Rico at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, from 7.30 pm
This after both teams booked their places in next year’s eight-team Concacaf final round event from February 10-21 in Houston, USA next year with extra-time semifinal wins at the same Couva venue on Wednesday night.
The Women Soca Warriors who defeated Jamaica 1-0 on a Mariah Shade goal in their CFU Cup final last year, fell behind on the stroke of half-time on Wednesday when Jodi Ann Mcgregor netted for the Reggae Girlz.
However, on the resumption, T&T took the match to the visitors and drew level in the 59th thanks to Dernelle Mascall after which both teams failed to find a winner in regulation-time.
Two minutes into the 30-minute extra-time period, veteran Women Soca Warriors midfielder, Tasha St Louis who got a beaver-trick ina 6-0 first-leg win over St Lucia in the previous round last Friday fired the host ahead.
The locals then survived some nervous moments, but in the end held on for the hard fought come-from-behind win to seal both a Concacaf Final Round qualifying spot and place in tonight’s decider against Puerto Rico, 1-0 victors over Guyana in Wednesday’s first semi final.
Getting the goal for the Puerto Ricans was Karina Soccarras Villalonga in the 119th minute.
Speaking after the tense encounter, Creece, a former national Olympic team player was full of praise of the supporters that turned out. He added, “I felt that the crowd support really pushed the girls to get the job done in the tough patches of the match.
“The girls have a saying that the crowd should always be their 12th warrior on the field of play and tonight (Wednesday) it was surely present and you can see the extra effort and positive response it brought out from the players and we hope to have that same kind of turn out for the final.”
Reflecting on the match with the Reggae Girlz, Creece a former Fatima College and East Mucurapo standout said he was delighted with the effort and result. “We came up against a tough, well organise team in Jamaica and even though we fell behind, the girls never dropped their heads.
Creece in praising the team also singled out the quartet of Dernelle Mascall, Karyn Forbes, Kamika Forbes and Khadidra Debesette for their impact on the game.”
He stated, “Mascall joined the team early on Monday, but the trio of Karyn, Kamika and Khadidra only arrived around 1am on Wednesday morning with the game being played in the night.”
“Having Kamika in goal also gives the players an extra bit of confidence with the experience she brings to the team while her sister, Karyn and Mascall showed their qualities as well as Debesette, who ran out of steam, due to the travelling.”
With regards to the mood in the camp, Creece said all the players are on the same page.
“They all came into the team to give their all and I think we have a positive vibes among us. They have all put the distractions aside and focus on the task at hand. Looking ahead to the clash with Puerto Rico, Creece said the match will be a little different as they are a team that likes to pass the ball around and play on the counter-attack.
Creece added, “They (Puerto Rico) are not a very physical team, but they are well coach, but overall it should be an interesting match as both teams are coming off extra-time semifinal matches.
“Our first aim coming into the tournament was to qualify for the Concacaf stage, and now that we have done that, our next target is to win the tournament outright, but we won’t be taking our opponents lightly either,” ended a confident Creece.
From the Concacaf Championship, the top two will qualify to the 2016 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, August 3-20.