Dominant St Joseph's Convent cruise to north zone intercol crown

ST Joseph's Convent Port of Spain (SJCPoS) continued their quest for back-to-back Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Coca-Cola girls' national intercol titles after winning the 2025 north zone crown in convincing fashion at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on December 3.

In a meeting with Holy Name Convent Port of Spain, SJCPoS flexed their muscles and powered to a 7-0 win, with national team defender Kaitlyn Darwent scoring a brace, to go along with a pair of goals from both Kara Cooper and Sydney Pollard.

Fresh from a solid defensive showing in the full back positions for the TT women's team in their big Concacaf W Qualifiers victory away to Barbados on December 1, the 17-year-old Darwent returned to captain SJCPoS and put in a masterful midfield showing en route to collecting the Player of the Match award.

SJCPoS were rampant in the first half and stormed to a 5-0 advantage by the 34th minute before adding two more goals for good measure in the second half to leave Holy Name crestfallen. Pollard started the scoring for SJCPoS in the 12th minute, before the reliable Darwent got on the scoresheet for the first time four minutes later. Cooper then notched a quick brace with goals in the 27th and 31st minutes, before centre forward Scarlett Cole stretched the lead to 5-0 in the 34th minute.

In the second half, Holy Name goalie Sorcha Cumming made a number of saves as her schoolmates cheered her on from the covered stands. However, the main victors in this clash were the girls from SJCPoS, who added gloss to the scoreline with goals from Darwent (48th minute) and Pollard (76th minute) as they capped off a dominant showing.

In the national intercol semifinals, SJCPoS are expected to face a much tougher test when they play south zone champions Pleasantville Secondary, whom they defeated via a penalty shootout to clinch last year's national intercol prize. A nice derby is brewing between SJCPoS and Pleasantville, as the latter school got some measure of revenge for last year's national intercol final loss by beating their northern counterparts in the Super Cup clash which opened this season.

In the next national intercol semi, east zone winners Five Rivers Secondary will take on Tobago champions Signal Hill Secondary, who blanked Bishop's High School 3-0 in their zonal final, which was also played on December 3.

Signal Hill took a 1-0 lead to the halftime break thanks to a 24th-minute goal from Leia-Marie Balfour, with Alliyah Baptiste and Shaquana Brown scoring in the second half as they eased past Bishop's challenge.