Zara Chase leads Pleasantville to girls' south intercol crown

A second-half hat-trick from winger Zara Chase powered Pleasantville Secondary to a commanding 5-0 win over St Joseph’s Convent San Fernando in the Secondary Schools Football League’s (SSFL) girls’ south zone intercol final at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva on December 2.

Pleasantville, the reigning girls’ Big 5 champs, enjoyed the better of the proceedings in the opening half but only had one goal to show for their efforts at the break – a 13th-minute strike from Kaeley Martin, who neatly tucked away a through pass from midfielder Ayoka Muhammad. The Brian London-coached Pleasantville team seemed to be inspired by a team talk or some extempo styles at the break, as they came out for the second half with renewed vigour.

St Joseph’s Convent goalie Amara Bhagan had a pretty decent showing in the first half. However, in the 47th minute, she was punished for an error after needlessly diving to her right to palm away a harmless long-range drive. Johnny-on-the-spot was Chase, who tapped in from close range to make it 2-0. Just two minutes later, Chase doubled her personal tally when she danced past a couple of tackles in the area before calmly passing a left-footer past Bhagan and into the far corner.

It was one-way traffic in the second half, and Pleasantville got their fourth in the 56th minute when their tireless captain Natalia Gosine casually passed her penalty into the bottom corner after a handball infringement in the area. The scoring was rounded off by Chase just seconds later, as the tricky winger cut inside her marker down the left before slamming a right-footed shot past Bhagan at the near post to make it 5-0.

In the 62nd minute, Bhagan showed her head was still in the game when she made a smart save with her feet to deny Chase a chance at a beaver-trick, while Gosine sent a powerful shot just over the bar from outside the area in stoppage time.

At the final whistle, Pleasantville comfortably retained their south intercol title and will now meet the north zone winner in the national intercol semis.

This puts them on a collision course with north zone finalists St Joseph’s Convent Port of Spain (SJCPoS), who defeated the Pleasantville girls on penalties in last year’s national intercol final. Pleasantville captured the first girls’ title of the 2025 season when they beat SJCPoS 2-1 in the Super Cup back in September.