Zonal Youth Championships Kick Off
24 August 2020
Local football action kicked off last weekend with the St Lucia Football Association [SLFA] Zonal Youth Championships, played at two venues.
The youth league championships incorporates clubs from the North, South, East and West zones competing in the age categories of Boys U-11 (7v7), U-13 (9v9) and U-17 (11v11). Clubs from the North and West zones make up the Northern Zone; while those clubs from the South and East zones will comprise the Southern Zone.
SLFA officials anticipate that the preliminary round matches will be completed by December, 13. Subsequently, the top two clubs from each age category, Northern and Southern Zones, will advance to the semi-finals and qualifiers for the finals will be announced at a later date.
SLFA President Lyndon Cooper says that with this new format all age barriers have been dismantled in this re-development phase .
He added that the SLFA is committed to develop the ‘Club Licensing System’; and will also conduct mandatory registration of clubs through the ongoing on-line process.
Equal emphasis was also being focused on women’s football, Cooper said, adding: “Over the last four years …a development system has been put in place to allow female players wider latitude to compete at different age levels.”
Meanwhile, last Saturday matches got underway at the Anse la Raye Playing Field and Phillip Marcellin Grounds [PMG], in Vieux Fort, with Shambala’s M. James registering the first hat trick in the Under – 13 division.
Scores of matches played last weekend were as follows:
On Saturday, at the Anse la Raye playing field -
Under-11
Neither Boguis nor GMC turned up for their encounters against Valley Soccer and New Generations respectively.
Nevertheless two other matches were played. FC Pioneers defeated Flow Lancers 3 – 2. Scoring for Pioneers were Curtrel Francois with a brace in the 4th and 32nd minutes, and Dante Barthelmy in the 30th minute. Lancers got their goals from Michael St. Claire in the 19th and Kymani Sexius in the 26th minutes.
In the other game played, Northern United defeated 1987 All Stars 3 -1 with goals by Terez Evans in the12th minute, Shiloh John in the 29th minute and Richie Brown in the 33rd minute.
Lian Danzie was All Stars lone goal scorer in the 17th minute.
In the Under 13 matches at the ALR Playing Field, Flow Lancers with a brace from Naheem Remy in the 24th and 51st minute defeated La Clery All Stars 2 – 0,
The second game saw B1 FC and Pioneers playing to an exciting 1–1 draw. Leonus Seopal opened the scoring for B1 in the 5th minute only for Curtrel to equalize in the 36th minute.
On Saturday, in the U-11 Southern Zone at the Phillip Marcellin Grounds [PMG] Victory Eagle and Black Panthers played to a goalless draw, while Richfond Youth Organization (RYO) and Knights FC played to a 1 – 1 draw. Silius St Romain scored for Knights in the 21st minute and Eden Sandiford for RYO in the 9th minute.
Playing the first game, Knights got past Aux Lyon United 3 – 2, with their goal scorers being Neandre Charles, Darrell Harris and Keyyaun Cenac. Scoring for Aux Lyon were Delan Gilbert and Rohan Tisson.
In the second game played Shambala registered an emphatic 4 – 0 victory over DCYO with Marshall James scoring a hat trick and Ethan David the fourth goal.
In the Under 17 at the PMG, DCYO drubbed Diamond Ballers 6 – 1. Nathaniel Fontenelle scored a hat trick, while the other goal scorers were Elijah Joseph minute, Ivor Daniel and an own goal by Conrad Evans.
Kimmanie St. Juste scored a penalty for Diamond Ballers in the 9th minute.
Panthers and Victory Eagles played to a goalless draw and RYO and Knights drew 1-1. In the U-13 – Southern Zone Knights defeated Aux Lyon 3-2 and DCYO over powered Shambala Shiloh 4-0. In the U-17 – Southern Zone, DCYO defeated Diamond Ballers vs DCYO 6-1
On Sunday, Black Panthers beat RYO 2-1, Aux Lyon went down to Challengers 1-2 and Knights whipped Uptown Rebels 8-0.