Women’s football in the Cayman Islands is on the up, the level of play in the domestic league is definitely moving in the right direction and the Cayman Islands Women’s National Programme is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Caribbean. This Saturday saw two very entertaining match ups as Future took on Elite SC and Sunset FC entertained Scholars International.

SunSet FC currently sit top of the Women’s League after an impressive 3:0 win over Scholars with all three goals coming in the first half. Sunset opened the game brightly taking the game to Scholars who were hit with wave after wave of attacks, before Scholars had a chance to take a breather, they were already three goals down. Mya Romilowych got Sunset off the mark after great work and a pin-point cross by from Diana Willington. Amanda Sidhu’s superb strike put Sunset two up before great combination play from Charlotte Home and Mya Romilowych set up Gisela Gamba who completed the scoring. Sunset FC Manager Alen Purvis is happy with his teams start to

the season, “it’s a great start but it is early days, we have new players who are still settling in to the team and although we play some nice football in patches we still need to be more consistent with our passing game”.

In the earlier fixture Elite Sports Club started their campaign with an impressive 4:1 win as they took care of Future. Elite SC currently have eleven National team players in their squad, ten of them making their first domestic league appearance this Saturday. Head Coach Martha Godet has a pool of talent to choose from this upcoming season as Elite Women’s team look to emulate their male counterparts and become League Champions, Coach Godet is looking forward to the season ahead “We welcome our supporters, parents, friends and family to come out and support the women’s games, to see their skills they each have playing the beautiful game of football”. Elite SC and Cayman Islands International

Midfielder Courtisha Ebanks got the scoring underway in the first half smashing home a free kick from outside the box that nestled in the top left hand corner of the goal leaving Future Goal Keeper Kendra Rankin stranded. Future reacted well to going down a goal and created a handful of half chances as the first half came to an end.

The second half saw the entrance of fifteen year old Cayman Islands International and recent Elite recruit Shanelle Fredrick who replaced Nikki Ebanks up front to partner fellow International striker Shanice Monteith. Shanelle’s entry injected energy into the attacking play of Elite as she kept the Future backline on their heels. Frederick’s hard work was rewarded early in the second half as she intercepted a misplaced pass by

Future and created a goal out of nothing.  After stealing possession, Frederick saw off two defenders before slotting the ball home. Elite increased their lead a few minutes later when Shanelle Frederick latched onto a perfect through ball from Shanice Monteith, Frederick didn’t have to break stride as she slotted home her second of the game. The introduction of Kimberly Rivers to Future’s attack offered them more options going forward but it was Elite’s Number 11 Shanelle Frederick who caused more havoc for Futures defense as she broke down their resistance again in the 80^th minute taking on two defenders before her shot was rebounded into the path of Chelsea Greene who couldn’t miss. Future never gave up and continued to attack. Brittni Ebanks; another Cayman International on the field got a late consolation goal for Future in the 87^th minute.

To watch highlights of the games visit www.ieyenews.com