NIGEL SIMON
nigel.simon@guardian.co.tt
Tobago Chicas will play host to Queen’s Park Cricket Club in the lone remaining quarterfinal match of the Ascension T&T Women’s League Football (WoLF) Tournament at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet on Sunday from 4 pm.
At stake for the winner will be a semifinal meeting with Terminix LA Rangers while Police FC and Defence Force will meet in the other semifinal at a date to be decided at the Phase II Recreation Ground, La Horquetta with the final and third place playoff set for the same venue, also on a date to be determined.
The Parkites will enter the match in Tobago as favourites after a second-place finish in the four-team Northern Conference with six wins from their nine matches to end with 19 points, six adrift of table-toppers Defence Force.
However the Parkites have been the most potent team in attack so far with 58 goals scored led by the duo of Jessica Harragin and Ashlee Alonzo with 14 goals each, and ten from Orielle Martin.
The pair of Hannah Vieira with seven goals, and Britanny Mahabir, five, have also made valuable contributions to the QPCC goals tally this season and will all be geared up for the clash with Tobago Chicas who topped the Tobago Conference with five wins from six matches, for 16 points, powered by J’Eleisha Alexander with seven goals, and six from Talia Martin.
Last weekend, the trio of Police FC, Terminix LA Rangers and Defence Force all booked their places in the semifinal with contrasting wins.
At the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Police FC got a lone strike from former national youth captain Anique Walker in the 18th minute to slip past a spirited University of T&T (UTT) Patriots while Rangers got a goal each from Laurelle Theodore and Adanya Phillip to beat Club Sando 2-0.
However, for the semifinals, Rangers will have to do without the services of national goalkeeper Kimika Forbes who was issued a straight red card by referee Garfield Weekes for unsportsmanlike behaviour along with Club Sando’s Britney Cooper
The Army/Coast-Guard combination women secured their spot in the final four after they were awarded a win by default against Jewels of Tobago after the latter opted out of the competition due to the unavailability of players because of their commitments with their respective teams in the Secondary Schools Football League.
The eventual tournament winners will pocket $20,000 while the second-place finisher gets $15,000 and the third spot, $10,000.