Pleasantville beat Five Rivers 3-0 to lift Girls' Big Five crown

Days after hammering Moruga Secondary 17-0 to win the Secondary Schools Football League Coca-Cola south zone intercol trophy, Pleasantville Secondary added a second title to their 2024 trophy cabinet after they sank Five Rivers Secondary 3-0 in the girls’ Big 5 final at Ato Boldon Stadium in Balmain, Couva, on November 26.

A goal in each half from top scorer Nikita Gosine, 14, partnered with a first-half goal from captain Tayeann Wylie was more than enough to lead the south team to victory over the visitors.

Despite some enticing runs of play in the opening minutes from Five Rivers’ Jayda Herbert, Mercedes Balthazar and Hackeema Goodridge, Pleasantville took an early lead from a corner kick in the 13th minute.

Gosine stepped up to deliver the free kick and was able to curl the ball through the gloves of goalkeeper Kertisha Joseph and into the back of the net.

Two minutes later, Wylie belted a spectacular long-range effort from well outside the 18-yard box to catch Joseph off her line and send Pleasantville 2-0 up in under 20 minutes of play.

Goodridge had a clear chance to level the game as she found herself one-on-one with Pleasantville goalie Janike Ramoutar. However, Ramoutar came up and denied her the equaliser.

Five Rivers kept in the hunt and were almost rewarded for their efforts when Herbert’s brilliant turn atop the box saw her fire one off Ramoutar’s crossbar.

Goodridge came close minutes later but lacked the final touch as Ramoutar, despite slipping, quickly recovered to deny the striker at close range.

Herbert had another chance to head one home but mistimed her jump to Ramoutar’s relief. So it remained at the half.

Five Rivers showed a little more fight in the second period with early attempts from Goodridge shooting wide and Herbert miscueing her attempt.

Pleasantville, however, also ramped up their attacking frontline in the second half which pressure on Five Rivers’ defence.

Gosine had her long-range effort in the 79th minute bang off the crossbar but made no mistake with another shot from distance, this time from the right, which flew into the top corner to make it 3-0.

Five Rivers tried valiantly to claw back into it but to no avail. Pleasantville kept the pressure on despite a light shower adding moisture to the outfield.

At the final whistle, the reigning Coca-Cola girls’ intercol champions celebrated in the rain, and were presented their Big 5 trophy by league president Merere Gonzales.

Pleasantville coach Brian London said the win was a testament of the hard work put in this year.

“A year of gratitude,” he said, “Our theme was togetherness, toughness and teamwork. We had to tough it out and stick together. This is a testament to us meeting at the school at 4am to do sand training on the beach and hill training at Lady Chancellor Hill.”

On his team’s approach in the final, London said they planned to keep it simple.

“We knew who their marquee players were and we had to neutralise them. We played a bit loose in the first half, in terms of sticking to the assignment, but we were able to zero in on it in the second half, and play the Pleasantville way.

“We gave up too much space for their key players to run into in the first half, and as much as our defence handled it, I felt that the midfield was open. We made some adjustments and was able to neutralise that threat in the second half,” he added.

Pleasantville now shift focus to their U16 match on November 28 and begin their Girls’ Intercol semi-final campaign on December 1.