The British Virgin Islands (BVI) 14 and under soccer team came to St. Thomas to take on the United States Virgin Islands (ISV) 14U soccer team in an international friendly match on the Antilles School field on Wednesday.
The scoring started early for ISV as Ridley Smith’s shot from the left sideline got by the diving BVI goalie just 3 minutes into the game. BVI’s Miles Penn got the equalizer five minutes later as his strike found the back of the net. Six minutes later, an ISV defender made a mistake stopping a ball that was leaving the box, and BVI’s Ty’Rique Charles said thank you by blazing the ball past the goalie from about five feet away, giving the visiting team a 2-1 advantage 14 minutes into the contest. The BVI held on to the one-point advantage until Dimetri St. Paul got loose deep in BVI territory, and he guided the ball past their charging goalie and into the right back corner of the goal, making the score 2-2 going into halftime.
The second half started with BVI’s goalie not wanting to take his position due to the iguana patrolling the goal line. That may have been a sign of how the second half was going to play out, as ISV scored three unanswered goals. The first came on an “Olympic goal,” or a goal scored directly from a corner kick. Andre Walker blasted a corner kick that squeezed by the BVI goalie and the near post and found its way into the net in the 37th minute. One minute later, St. Paul scored his second goal of the match for ISV. Walker closed out the scoring by winning a fight for the ball in his opponent’s goal area, scoring on an open net. ISV defeated BVI by the score of 5-2.
This friendly match was put together as part of both federations’ plans to prepare their young teams for a future international event. “This summer we are competing in the Caribbean Football Union tournament. We are starting our preparation for that event,” said ISV Head Coach Dante Nicholas. “BVI will also be in that tournament as well. So, we thought this would be a good way to kick off our preparation going into that event.”
The roster of the ISV 14U team is mainly made up of players from four local clubs: Helenites and Rovers of St. Croix and Castaways, and Massey Soccer Academy from the St. Thomas/St. John district. “Because the kids here don’t get as many opportunities as those who do play in the states we are working more with our local players,” Nicholas said.
The federation is also planning to have youth leagues starting early next year to keep these athletes playing. “We plan to have more games between the local clubs. This will give our players more games and a chance to play in front of their families instead of having to go abroad and play.” Nicholas said.
The federation will keep the community abreast of all their future events.
