Trinidad and Tobago’s under-17 women’s football team came to the party at the Concacaf Under-17 Women’s qualifiers on January 28 when they got a thumping 8-2 victory over Barbados at the Stadion Rignaal ‘Jean’ Francisa in Willemstad, Curacao.

After a 2-2 draw with Curacao on January 24, coach Ayana Russell’s team made a huge statement in their second match in group F and were powered by braces from Torie Jean-Jacques and captain Sanni Wilson, who scored for the second straight game. Also getting on the scoresheet for TT were Chelsea John, playmaker Jade Jones, Shiya Matthews, and midfielder Rori Gittens, who scored with a long-range bomb towards the end of the first half.

The win took TT atop the group with four points from two matches as they moved past an El Salvador (three points) team, which spanked the Bajans 6-0 in their first match on January 26. El Salvador will play Curacao on January 30 before meeting TT in a pivotal clash from 4 pm in Willemstad on February 1.

After threatening a couple of times early on against Barbados, TT took the lead in the tenth minute through the impressive Wilson. However, that lead was cut just two minutes later when central defender and set-piece specialist Gabrielle Birminngham scored with a looping free kick which outfoxed goalie Zofia Richards. Birmingham would step up from the back again in the second half to convert a penalty, but it was a mere consolation as TT totally dominated to give their goal difference a healthy boost.

By the end of the first half, TT ran out to a 5-1 advantage, with Wilson leading from the front as she restored the lead in the 17th minute when she neatly tucked away a pass from Jones. A right-side corner from Jones led to TT’s third goal as Matthews easily headed past a hapless Roshauna Massiah in the 34th minute, with the Barbados keeper then being well beaten with the right-footed blast that followed from Gittens in the 40th minute.

Gittens’ strike seemed to inspire Jean-Jacques, as the forward left Massiah clutching at straws in first-half stoppage-time with her right-footed cannon from about 30 yards.

With the bit between their teeth and Massiah now under constant pressure in goal, TT added two more goals shortly after resumption to open up a 7-1 lead by the 55th minute. John headed in a left-sided corner from Gittens for TT’s sixth, with Jean-Jacques doubling her tally when she stylishly placed a right-footer into the bottom corner from the edge of the area after the Bajans failed to clear their lines.

With Birmingham scoring from the spot in the 63rd minute to get the second goal for Barbados, Jones restored TT’s six-goal cushion with a penalty of her own in the 72nd minute after defender Hackeemar Goodridge received a kick to the head from striker Danika Antoine near the six-yard box. Goodridge was stretchered off the field, and Russell will be hoping to have the services of her combative Trendsetter Hawks player for the final group game in a few days.

The group winner will advance to Concacaf’s final round of qualifying, with the two best second-placed teams from the six first-round groups also moving on to the final round.