Scholars win against Future

By Tara Bush
Caymanian Compass

Scholars 1
Future 0

A second-half goal by Susan Eden gave Scholars a 1-0 home win against Future at the Ed Bush playing field on Saturday.
The win now puts Scholars women's team at the top of the league table. With the intra-district rivalry brewing between the two West Bay Clubs the Scholars vs. Future match turned out to be a high calibre ferocious encounter that Scholars did well to come out ahead of. A lot was at stake for the two squads and it showed by the large number of spectators that the game attracted.

The two teams even fielded two seasoned players who seemingly came out of retirement for the occasion. Gillian Lawrence wearing the number 10 jersey for Future came out of a three season hiatus. Michelle "Mousy" McField transfer from George Town must have finally come through as she was sporting Scholars' colours.

Suffice to say the game was played pretty much on an even keel with loads of clever passes. But in the end it was experience that conquered the youth team. Scholars' defence was rock-like, almost impenetrable, which obstructed Future from scoring. And with the wind on at the back it was essential for Future to score in the first-half. But Scholars' defenders were convincing and absolute in their resolve of not allowing the younger team to score.

Scholars also tried their best to topple the young team's back-line but were unsuccessful for a time.
The second half started with the 0-0 scoreline and it appeared as if Scholars' coach Greg Ebanks had made an adjustment to beat Future's sweeper-system defence. The opposition's coaches on the other hand did not pick up on the change, which involved Susan Eden charging up the left flank and squaring the ball to McField.

Future's sweeper, Sofia Johnston would close and a centre back would disarm Scholars from inflicting further damage.
Scholars repeated this play until it worked.

Martha Godet floated the ball up the left flank. Eden collected the ball and she finessed her way into Future's back-third. She crossed the ball to McField, Johnston closed, but McField quickly squared the ball to Eden. It appeared as if Future centre back was going to clear the ball. However the young defender jumped over it, appearing to leave it for the keeper to collect. But the ball rolled to Eden, who gathered it up and easily slotted the ball into the net.

If the teams were determined before, their efforts seemed to increase two-fold. Future's Kera Smith released a couple of shots but Scholars' keeper Sade Wood made the saves.

With 10 minutes remaining the weather changed from wind to rain, but this did nothing to douse the team's fire for victory.