The University of the West Indies Blackbirds are the new queens of local football.
The Blackbirds confirmed their regal status when the Barbados Football Association’s Football’s Women’s League closed on Thursday night at Friendship.
Ironically, the Blackbirds were enjoying a picnic on the perimeter of the pitch as they became the new champions.
The deposed queens National Sports Council (NSC) defeated Eden Stars 3-1 to end in the second spot although closing out on 30 points, the same as UWI. However, NSC needed to win by 16 clear goals to deny UWI their first title and another sporting honour in 2017.
The Stars, with the aggressive Marissa King at the helm, showed no interest in granting NSC the improbable favour of striking 16 goals. It was only in the 18th minute that a handled ball in the area gifted a penalty which Tianna Hackett easily slotted past custodian Davisha Skeete.
It took 25 minutes of robust play from both teams before NSC scored again with Hackett arching a direct free kick over the Stars’ wall to beat Skeete to her right.
NSC scored their third goal compliments of the attacking Kamillah Burke, who struck in the 73rd minute from just in front of the penalty area after being denied on previous attempts at the goalbars.
Unbelievably, Eden Stars dampened NSC’s euphoria one minute later as a running play from Tianna Sealy down the left flank saw Sealy firing from an almost impossible acute angle to beat NSC’s goalkeeper Rieah Holder. Neither team added any more goals in spite of threatening attacks at both ends of the field.
Coach of the Blackbirds, Barbados senior men’s team captain and striker Mario Harte described their title as a culmination of hard work where the girls came out week after week to put in the work and gelling as a team.
Harte indicated that the success of the Blackbirds’ sports programme obviously placed pressure on him but he also suffered from a personal pressure.
“Persons looking at me would believe that I was a player trying to coach but I am really serious about my coaching and as a player and coach I love to win. I put in a lot of work to get the results with the girls,” he said.
“With all due respect, working with the girls was a challenge initially as I had to deal with the different personalities and the slower pace of the game. But, the girls showed me a lot of respect and they responded positively to my coaching and made my job easier.
“I was confident that we had the players to do the job but after losing in the first round to Sports Council we really rallied to bounce back to achieve the title. Harte noted that while it was a team effort, a number of players played key roles.
“While I do not want to single out players as we won as a unit, Shonna Evelyn in defence, Julia Taylor was a key addition and Gabriella Lopez played through many injuries. Our leading scorer Rianna Cyrus and young Caitlin Padmore gave us plenty of depth while captain Ashanee Thompson was a great inspiration,” said Harte.
The champion coach Harte added that the Blackbirds aim to repeat in 2018. (KB)