The British Virgin Islands (BVI) National Soccer Program sent two teams to St. Thomas to play Massey Soccer Academy (MSA) in a national friendly on Saturday at Antilles School’s field. The two entities have been hosting these types of national-friendly matches for the past five years.
The Under 12 teams were on the pitch first. BVI jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning the game 3-0. The goalie for MSA, Walter Watkins, was quite busy as the ball seemed to reside on MSA’s side of the field. BVI’s offense was impressive as they came away with the three-point victory.
In the feature game of the afternoon, the MSA Under 20 team avenged their younger comrades with a 3-1 victory. Once again, BVI got out to a lead early and took a 1-0 advantage into halftime. Coach Dale Richards attributed the slow start for both teams to inactivity over the past two weeks. “In the first half, we were very rusty. We were rusty because we hadn’t played in the last three weeks because of the rain,” said Richards.
However, in the second half of the Under 20 game, Niquan Henry got the scoring started for MSA by winning a ball in the box and beating the goalie to the ball. Once by the goalie, Henry struck the ball into the back of the net. A few minutes later, Averad Penn scored on a free kick from about 15 yards away. Penn blasted the ball through BVI’s three-man wall, past the fingertips of the goalie, and into the top shelve of the goal. MSA’s final point came when Gabriel King collected a pass and drove the ball into the far bottom of the net.
The two programs will meet again later this year.
