Excelsior Eagles soar again!
Champions stop Denham Town for third-straight ISSA girls’ title
Excelsior High school crowned themselves champions of the inter-secondary schools sports Association (issa)/locker room sports/ Tip Friendly society schoolgirl Football competition with a comefrom-behind 4-1 win over a spirited Denham Town High at the spanish Town Prison oval on Friday.
A brace from Christina Salmon and two others from Moesha Mclaughlin and Chavelle Henry helped the champions recover from going behind to a Natoya Atkinson early goal, as they marched to their seventh overall title in an almost perfect season.
Excelsior went into the final as heavy favourites having tallied a record 232 goals from 14 games without conceding any, but were stunned when Denham Town’s leading scorer Atkinson outsped the backline and looped the ball over Tiana Schroeter in the 15th minute.
The Xavier Gilbert-coached team responded like true champions, however, and were level in the 28th minute when Mclaughlin powered home a shot from outside the area.
Before Denham Town could gather themselves, they were behind when Henry scored from inside the area to give Excelsior a 2-1 half-time lead.
Any chances of a Denham Town fairy tale comeback were dashed when the prolific Salmon got her first goal four minutes after the restart. She cut inside her marker before blasting the ball into the far corner to make it 3-1 and then closed her impressive season tally at 59 goals when she scored at the near post to make it 4-1.
Gilbert was a little bit disappointed with conceding in the final but described the performance of his girls throughout the season as remarkable.
“I am happy for the win, but to be honest I am not happy with how we played; with how we conceded the goal. I am disappointed that we conceded a goal, but happy with the way they performed right through the season.
“It’s remarkable. We scored so many goals and conceded just one. It’s unbelievable, 236 goals in 15 games, I can’t ask for more.”
He was also always confident that his team would come back despite going
behind early to Denham Town.
“I was always confident. I had no doubt that the young ladies would score some goals. We have scored many goals in all the games right throughout the season.”
Denham Town’s coach Kimathinkrumah Abbeku Makonnen was proud of the show his girls put on against the defending champions.
“Before the season started we knew that there were two teams that we had to consider mainly, not undermining the others, but…greater Portmore, who have a very good coach and Excelsior of course, the defending champions with a lot of national players.
“If you watch the game keenly, for the first 20 minutes we knew what we were doing and we executed, until the two self-inflicted goals. The first two goals the opponents scored on us were self-inflicted, not taking any credit away from them, but the evidence is there,” he explained.
He admitted that the game got away from his team after the second goal was scored.
“After that things got a bit tricky, but I still give it up to the players because the environment they actually perform in everyday is rough.”
Holmwood Technical, who were playing in the competition for the first time, were led to third place by their outstanding national representative Peta-gay Dixon. Holmwood turned back Mile Gully 4-2 in the third-place game, with Dixon bagging a hat-trick against a Mile Gully team who got to the semi-finals for the first time this year.