PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago crushed Grenada 13-0 on the final match-day here Sunday, to win Group C of the CONCACAF Caribbean Women’s Qualifiers and reach the final round of the championship.
They led 6-0 at half-time at the Ato Boldon Stadium and continued their rampage afterwards, to ensure they finished ahead of St Kitts and Nevis on goal difference, after both teams ending on 10 points.
Forward Alliyah Prince netted a hat-trick while captain Tasha St Louis, Jonelle Cato, Janine Francois and Maria Shade all scored braces.
Entering the contest unbeaten but needing to win by at least six clear goals after St Kitts had earlier trounced US Virgin Islands 7-0, T&T started on a high when Kedie Johnson netted in the 10th and Jenelle Cunningham, three minutes later.
Shade scored her first in the 33rd minute before T&T banged in three goals in the last four minutes before half-time, to end the first half impressively.
The second half was another blowout as as Francois and Cato both scored to extend T&T’s lead and even though Grenada kept them scoreless until the 80th minute, the powerhouses netted five times in the last 12 minutes to enhance the rout.
For Grenada, the defeat was their third in four outings, and it saw them finish bottom of the five-team standings with a single point following a 1-1 draw with Dominica last Friday.
In Group D in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda also booked their place in the final round of Caribbean qualifiers when they edged St Lucia 1-0 to finish top of the standings.
Britney Edwards’s second-minute goal was enough to decide the contest at the Antigua Recreation Ground and leave the hosts unbeaten and on nine points.
St Vincent and the Grenadines had earlier lost their third straight match when they went down 1-0 to Curacao.
And in Guyana, Bermuda also booked their passage through to the next round with a similar 1-0 victory over Suriname at the Synthetic Track and Field Facility.
The Bermudians entered the final match-day alongside the hosts on four points but Akeyla Furbert’s goal, four minutes before half-time, earned them a precious three points.
Guyana and Barbados drew nil-all in the other match at the venue.
T&T, Antigua and Bermuda will be joined in the final round of qualifiers by Cuba and Jamaica who won Group A and B respectively, earlier this month.
The final round runs from August 25 to September 2.