Lennon High beat Excelsior for girls' title

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Defending champions Lennon High grabbed their fourth straight hold on the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Locker Room Sports schoolgirls football title, with an exciting come-from-behind 2-1 win over Excelsior High at the Spanish Town Prison Oval in St Catherine yesterday.

Nugene Nugent (69th) and Rhonda Rhoomes (84th) were the goal scorers for the Merron Gordon-coached Lennon.

Shantel Spence scored the opening goal of the game for Excelsior in the 65th minute.

"This year was the record year because Excelsior had won it three times straight before and so we decided that we were going to set a new record this year," said Gordon.

"We came here and we fought really hard after we were a goal down, and in the latter part of the game my players stuck to the task and we won the game," he added.

Xavier Gilbert, the coach of Excelsior, was gracious.

"It was a gutsy performance from us," said Gilbert. "It was a bit scrappy in the first half, but nevertheless, I think we did well in the second half and I think we were a bit unlucky not to take the game into extra time."

Gilbert added: " I think it is very unfortunate that we didn't come out on top, but congratulations to Lennon because they fought hard and I lift my hat to them."

40-yard shot

The fleet-footed Spence gave the Mountain View-based Excelsior the lead 20 minutes into the second half with a spectacular 40-yard strike that went through the hands of goalkeeper Shanoy Ricketts and into the back of the net.

However, Nugent pulled her team level four minutes later, when she tapped home a cross from Shanice Bowen.

Rhoomes scored the winning goal for the Clarendon-based Lennon in impressive fashion, when she outsprinted three Excelsior defenders and rounded the goalkeeper to calmly slot the ball into the back of the net.