Guyana’s “Lady Jags” football team placed second to USA’s Bethseda FC in the Turks and Caicos (T&C) Football Festival after losing 0-3 in Saturday’s final but Technical Director Mark Rodrigues feels the tournament was a great start to the national women’s programme.

“We came into this tournament with the technical staff never having physically seen most of the squad play and similarly, most of the players were meeting each other for the first time only, upon their arrival in the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

Both finalists registered commanding victories in their first two games against the T&C Select and Under-20 teams prior to the final.

The North Americans scored early from an easy header and though the Lady Jags immediately regrouped and launched a few attacks on their own, the team  suffered two set backs when Kayla DeSouza and Alyssa Budhoo were injured and had to be substituted.

At half time the score line remained unchanged.

Bethseda FC’s two additional goals came from corner kicks taken in the

78th and 84th minutes.

Guyana’s Ashley Rodrigues was presented with the Golden Boot Award as the top goal scorer of the tournament with five goals while Alison Heydorn was named the team’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament.