Assistant coach of the Women Soca Warriors Anthony Creece says his team has no intention of easing up when it faces St Lucia in their second-leg of their Group Two Caribbean Football Union Women’s Olympic Qualifier at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, from 6 pm today.
This after the Women Soca Warriors crushed St Lucian 6-0 led by a beaver-trick from Tasha St Louis at the same venue on Friday night.
Former European-based striker Ahkeela Mollon opened the scoring for the Women Soca Warriors as early as the third minute and added a second in the 66th. St Louis, who married long-time soulmate Kareem Joseph of Morvant Caledonia United recently, got the other goals in the tenth, 33rd, 38th and 58th minutes.
Commenting on the win, Creece said: “Our goal in the first match was to get a big result and keep a clean sheet in the first match and I’m very satisfied that the ladies played to the game plan, got the result we wanted and will have a clean sheet going into the next match.”
A former T&T Olympic team midfielder, Creece added: “What was also a good sign for us was that none of our players picked up any injuries in the first match, because with the small squad we have and the next round of matches to follow very soon next week, it could have a setback on the team.”
Looking ahead today’s encounter, Creese said he wants his team to go out with the same intensity and come away with another impressive result.
“We have a 6-0 lead and for St Lucia to get to the next phase they will have to overturn that scoreline. That means they will have to come at us so we will need to observe their approach early on and play to plan,” ended Creece, who is in charge of the team in the absence of US-based coach Randy Waldrum.
The qualifying tournament was reduced to T&T and St Lucia after Antigua & Barbuda and Cayman Islands, the two others teams who were expected to compete withdrew from the group series.
The winner of the T&T/St Lucia tie will then qualify to the four-team CFU Final round semifinal playoff versus Jamaica with Puerto Rico and Guyana to meet in the other, also at Couva on November 18, followed by the final and third matches two days later.
At the end of that four-team tournament, the top three teams will advance to the eight-team Concacaf final round event from February 10-21 in Houston, USA, next year, from which the top two will qualify for the 2016 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, August 3-20.