South Leeward women hold up community pride and joy

South Leeward’s women’s football team made certain that one of the four national titles, up for the taking last Sunday, at the Victoria Park, on a day of finals, made a stop in their community.{{more}}

The women set down the marker for the others to follow, as South Leeward appeared in three of the four finals at the Victoria Park.

They faced East Kingstown in the final for the second year running, and from the sound of the first whistle, both teams seemed to be working towards victory.

The anxiety and exuberance, however, was focused in the middle of the park, as neither team gave or asked much of their opponent.

South Leeward was awarded a penalty in the first half; however, Kandis Franklyn kicked the ball straight into the clutching arms of goalkeeper Shree Ann John, to leave the first half 0 – 0.

Franklyn made amends in the 33rd minute, when her determination saw her threading her way through the East Kingstown defence to elude John, and with an empty goal at her mercy, sent her rightfooted shot to bulge the net and her team and their supporters into jubilation.

This turned out to be the play and goal that were sufficient for South Leeward to be returned as National Inter Community League women’s champion.

But it was not the same for the other South Leeward outfits, as the male under-17 team was beaten by Barrouallie 3-1, and the senior men lost to Barrouallie -2-1.

Despite the lone trophy of a possible three, head coach of South Leeward, Keith Ollivierre, was happy with their overall achievement.

“South Leeward’s appearance in three of the finals for this year’s Inter League Competitions is indeed a great achievement…. Our appearance goes way beyond the finals”, Ollivierre told SEARCHLIGHT.

Ollivierre said that had he been present at the semi-final stage of the under-13 division, South Leeward could have also had representation in that final as well.

Ollivierre, in thumbing this year’s successes, said: “We identified the weaknesses in last year’s championship and began working on them, via the club in the area… We have a unique club structure that focuses on long term development”.

Positioning themselves to continue to be a force at the national inter league level, Ollivierre noted that after the celebrations of their 2013 achievements are out of the way, they would immediately begin preparing for 2014.

“We would be starting work on the U-13 and U-17 for upcoming championships, so the needed experiences are gained, as well as focused on the U-20 players tactically and technically for next year’s championships,” Ollivierre stated.(RT)