By S. Siapha Mulbah
The Lone Star Women’s National team of Liberia climaxed their participation in the Women African Cup of Nations qualifiers yesterday in Paynesville with a 6-2 aggregate loss to Cape Verde.
Liberia got eliminated in the double meeting fixture against the Cape Verdeans, who succeeded in sealing their place at the next round of the competition against the Super Falcons of Nigeria.
In Praia on September 22, 2023, Lone Star, on her visiting mission, conceded three goals, leaving their chances of qualification hanging by a thread. In the return leg at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, the deal was sealed, as Cape Verde pushed more and more against Liberia to score more goals, validating their progression.
In the 11th minute of the match, Eveline Varela of Cape Verde took the lead for her side, but the celebration for the visitors was short lived as a quick equalizer by Dalphine Glao of Liberia in the 14th minute, leveled the scores.
The visitors however regained their lead against the Liberian women in the 25th minute, when player Alcione Gomes-Santos found the back of the net with the third goal of the match.
Things got brighter for Cape Verde leading to the halftime break as they mounted more pressure to extend the advantage to 3-1 at halftime. Kleydiana Borges corrected a dangerous mistake by the Liberian defense with a 38th minute strike, when she overwhelmed a defender who intended to connect her teammate around the penalty area.
From the break, with a 3-1 gap to close and 6-1 behind on aggregate, the Liberia girls played for a more respectable score line to salvage some pride, putting up more defensive tactics and attacks, but the damage had already been done.
Liberia got her consolation goal in the midway point of the second half when a well lifted corner kick was played by Louise Brown that landed on the hand of Cape Verdean defender for a penalty. Hawa Kpan converted the penalty to end the match 3-2 and 6-2 on aggregate.
