The Tribune

The Bahamas senior women’s national soccer team wrapped up their Road to CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup experience with a 2-1 loss to the US Virgin Islands (USVI) in a home game at the Roscow AL Davies Soccer Field yesterday.

It was the first time in decades the home team fielded a national women’s team. Despite their efforts, the team finished with a 0-1-3 win/draw/loss record in League C, Group C for the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup qualifiers.

On Wednesday, the USVI women’s national team looked to earn their first win of the qualifiers against The Bahamas.

In their previous match against the home team, both clubs finished in a 0-0 draw at the Bethlehem Soccer Complex in October. However, the visiting team wasted no time in

scoring their first goal of the contest as Mackiesh Taylor sent the ball past The Bahamas’ goalkeeper Kendi Outten at the 16th minute.

Ricqea Bain, head coach of the senior women’s national team, gave some insight on how the match got away from The Bahamas.

“The game was a little sketchy when we first started. We came out with plan A then we tried plan B and it started to work but we started to rely too much on it. We had some opportunities that we were unable to put away but we were able to get one,” Bain said.

The lone goal for The Bahamas was scored by midfielder Kenyonique Thompson. She capitalised on a rebound off the USVI’s goalkeeper Levania Lawrence and sank the eqauliser to the back of the net at the 31st minute of the game. It was her first international goal and it gave the team some momentum on home soil to even the score 1-1.

Thompson shared what it felt like to score the goal for The Bahamas.

“It felt good the last time that I played I knew we had a lot of opportunities to score a goal so this goal felt so good and the team deserved this. We fell short in the end. We have a lot of work to do but it’s a start,” she said.

She continued to say that it was a stepping stone in the right direction and was proud of the entire team for their hard work.

The momentum garnered by Thompson quickly went away three minutes later as the visiting team’s Bianca Canizio got the edge on Outten to make the score 2-1 at the 34th minute.

After halftime, both teams remained scoreless with The Bahamas trying tirelessly to earn another goal but were unsuccessful.

The 2-1 win marked the first victory for the USVI women’s national football team in the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup qualifiers standings for League C, Group C.

They now have 4 points and a 1-1-1 record.

Jorge Zavala, head coach of USVI, talked about how it felt to see his team perform well in the away game. “I am super excited I thought they played their hearts out today. I am super proud of the effort they put forward. It has been a long training camp in the sense of trying to prepare for this match so we are super excited that we came here and got a W,” the head coach said.

Despite The Bahamas being eliminated from qualification for the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup, Bain acknowledged that the team has made significant progress although they had some setbacks along the way.

“The results did not really show all the hard work and dedication we put into the game. We had good movements across the field, we had some shots but unfortunately the keeper got the best of us,”

“My hope for the team is that we have more opportunities to play. Our downfall as a team is the lack of games. As an entire unit we rarely get a chance because some are in the USA and Freeport. The more matches we get the better the team can get but unfortunately this tournament is every four years but we look to work towards it,” the head coach said.

The qualifying stage of the Road to CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup wraps up on December 5.