Youth tourney nears climax

High drama, missed opportunities and heartbreak were the order of the day as the preliminaries of the seventh Barbados Cup reached a crescendo yesterday.
In the highly competitive women’s category, the two top teams, Ministry of Sport of Trinidad and the National Sports Council, had the large crowd at Briar Hall, Christ Church, on its toes during a heart-stopping 1-1 draw. UWI Blackbirds kept up the pressure on the leaders with a well worked 1-0 victory over Empire. The women’s finals will be played tonight at the same venue.
In Under-19 action, Trinidad’s Club Sando reached the last four in Zone A and will today play Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic, while Zone B kings Gall Hill will play Naparima College of Trinidad.
The Under-17 category proved just intriguing and unpredictable, with Pro-shottas’ 1-0 victory over Gasparillo of Trinidad earning them a semi-final against the Barbados Soccer Academy, who defeated Whitehall 3-0. The other semi-final will see Gall Hill come up against Cosmos.
Pinelands remained unbeaten in Under-15 play and will face Pro-shottas in the first semi final at Weymouth today, while crowd-favourites Cox Academy of Trinidad, who have also played unbeaten, will face the Barbados Soccer Academy.