Head coach of the Lady Tridents Mario Harte is focused on staying unbeaten in the Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup qualifiers.
Barbados is scheduled to take on the Dominican Republic on Tuesday at the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium in Santo Domingo after a successful start to their campaign, whipping St Vincent and the Grenadines 5-0 at the Wildey Astroturf on Friday.
Barbados is currently top of the table in Group C on a superior goal difference, ahead of Bermuda, who defeated the Dominican Republic 2 – 0.
Harte told Barbados TODAY that he was happy to not only start their quest to the Women’s Gold Cup with a win, but also to see the women find the back of the net consistently.
“Goals are important in this kind of competition, but we would’ve worked hard so it wasn’t a surprise. We know where the goals will come from because we worked on that leading up to the game,” Harte said.
The former Tridents forward, now making a successful shift to coach, lamented on the turnaround time for the matches, but was happy that his side isn’t plagued by any injuries.
Harte said the team will not be complacent, pointing to the Dominican Republic as one of their toughest opponents in the group, and maintained that there was no pressure on the Lady Tridents to perform.
“The results against St Vincent and the Grenadines allowed the girls to see that they can play constructive football, and if we just follow the plans, things will come to light,” he said.
The Lady Tridents were relentless in their attacks against St Vincent and the Grenadines, with talismanic striker, Rianna Cyrus (9’, 22’, 45+2’) blasting a hat-trick.
The UWI Blackbirds forward is enjoying a fruitful season on the pitch, where she was one of the leading goal scorers in the Barbados Football Association (BFA) Women’s league.
Cyrus came in for praises from Harte as he hailed her performance and stated that she will be critical in Barbados’ journey to the Women’s Gold Cup.
Shanice Stevenson (11’) and Cheyanna Burnett-Griffith (74’) were the other players to scorers against St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Stevenson said the team’s opening win came easy as a result of the work done with Harte leading up to the match.
Following the upcoming match against the Dominican Republic, Barbados would return to face Bermuda at home on October 27 and then travel to Hamilton for the away fixture.
They will host Dominica on December 1 and conclude the group stage of the tournament with an away match against St Vincent and the Grenadines on December 5.
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