It’s two wins from two matches for the Young sugar Girls who flew past Suriname 2-0 on Friday in the Concacaf U-17 Women’s Tournament at the IMG Academy in Florida. After downing U.S. Virgin Islands 4-1 on Wednesday and adding another three points against Suriname, Saint Kitts and Nevis have claimed the top spot in Group A with six points. Jahzara Claxton’s goal in the 19’ and a goal from Kionna Mills in the 67’ provided the margin of victory.
The victory means St. Kitts and Nevis win Group A and will advance to the next stage. They were due to face Dominica who was also in the group, but they pulled out due to challenges posed by COVID-19. It was a tough match for the Sugar girls, according to Coach Earl Jones who disclosed that some of the players suffered injuries, which affected their ability to play to its fullest strength. But he praised his backroom staff for the work they did to keep the girls ready. “We have to bear in mind we had a lot of injuries…and I think that the girls coped well thanks to the supporting staff. We had a physio…Jeune (Guishard-Pine); she did some wonders,” he said. “The girls showed some great fight today.” He also thanked the parents of the players for giving their permission for them to participate and the other members of the support team for their hard work to keep the team ready.
Suriname will close out their group stage campaign on Sunday when they face U.S. Virgin Islands, with each nation still alive of reaching the CWU17 as the best ranked second-place finisher among the three groups. The Sugar Girls are expected to return to the Federation in the coming week.