MI­A­MI, Flori­da – Ja­maica and Cos­ta Ri­ca kicked off their cam­paigns in em­phat­ic fash­ion on Thurs­day, se­cur­ing dom­i­nant vic­to­ries in the first round of the 2025 Con­ca­caf Women’s U-17 Qual­i­fiers.

The young Reg­gae Girlz an­nounced their in­ten­tions in style with a re­sound­ing 6-0 tri­umph over Saint Kitts and Nevis at the Na­tion­al Sta­di­um in Man­agua, Nicaragua.

Kiana Wil­son wast­ed no time in putting Ja­maica on the score­board, find­ing the net in the 4th minute with a clin­i­cal right-foot­ed strike. Bri­an­na Turn­er ex­tend­ed the ad­van­tage in the 33rd minute, en­sur­ing Ja­maica en­tered half­time with a com­fort­able lead.

The sec­ond half saw El­la Provost-Heron join the score­sheet in the 47th minute, de­liv­er­ing a well-placed left-foot­ed shot from the edge of the box. Wil­son con­tin­ued her im­pres­sive per­for­mance, se­cur­ing a brace in the 58th minute be­fore com­plet­ing her hat-trick just four min­utes lat­er in the 62nd.

Shauntai Pryce capped off the scor­ing in the 73rd minute, seal­ing Ja­maica’s place at the top of the group on goal dif­fer­ence.

With this vic­to­ry, Ja­maica now pre­pares for a de­ci­sive show­down against hosts Nicaragua on Sat­ur­day, where a win would guar­an­tee a spot in the Fi­nal Round of the qual­i­fiers.

Over in San­to Domin­go, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, Cos­ta Ri­ca dom­i­nat­ed Grena­da with a com­mand­ing 7-0 vic­to­ry at Es­ta­dio Olímpi­co Félix Sánchez.

Las Ticas opened the scor­ing in the 6th minute through Lu­cia Pa­ni­agua’s pre­cise right-foot­ed strike. Tiara Ruiz dou­bled the lead just five min­utes lat­er, con­vert­ing a head­er from a well-ex­e­cut­ed free kick. Daniela Ocam­po con­tin­ued the on­slaught in the 13th minute with a com­posed left-foot­ed fin­ish in­side the box.

Al­isha Lin­do cap­i­talised on a de­fen­sive clear­ance in the 23rd minute to add Cos­ta Ri­ca’s fourth goal, be­fore Em­ma Azofeifa un­leashed a stun­ning long-range ef­fort in the 31st minute to make it 5-0.

Is­s­ka Chaver­rí fur­ther ex­tend­ed the lead with a sen­sa­tion­al 40-yard free kick in the 38th minute, while Pa­ni­agua com­plet­ed her brace in the 40th minute to round off the scor­ing.

Cos­ta Ri­ca now looks ahead to a cru­cial clash against the Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic on Sat­ur­day, with both teams vy­ing for the top spot and a tick­et to the Fi­nal Round.

CMC