By S. Siapha Mulbah
Shaita Angels Football club, on Wednesday February 21, 2024, achieved one of its long-lasting quests by kicking out the back-to-back champions of the Liberia Football Association Orange Cup in the second leg encounter of the quarterfinal.
The Angels from Careysburg rose to the occasion to stand out as the competition’s most favorite, following their slender qualification margin over Determine Girls Football club that has dominated the local scene in nearly all women’s football competitions they have participated in for the four football seasons, with the exception of the lower leagues.
Cynthia Weah got a lone goal in the midway of the first half before their home fans at the George Weah technical Center at the Angels backyard in Careysburg to get the team’s first historical win over their biggest contenders in all Liberian competitions.
The advantage that took the Angels to the semifinals of the Football Association Cup is the away goal rule, because the aggregate was 2-2 from the first and second legs. The Determine Girls won the first leg at their home ground, the Antoinette Tubman Stadium 2-1, while the Angels got a one-nil win, stopping the title holders from attempting to go further.
It was a moment of celebration for one of Liberia’s passionate, young, and innovative women’s football administrators, Benita Urey, as she danced with the players, coaches, and fans after the match, expressing optimism that her team is about to win the Women’s Orange Cup.
Benita Urey commended the team after the first leg, despite the defeat, with the courage that the results one day could favor them; noting that the strength and confidence level of the players of the club showed prospects from time to time and the qualification stands as an evidence that the job underway had been progressive, and lauded the fans of the Careysburg Township for their continued support to the girls at all times, and vowed on behalf of the team to keep smiles on their faces, saying, “I just want to say thanks to the fans, they never gave up on us and they are always with us.”
With the semifinal qualification, Shaita Angels, who forfeited the 2022/2023 edition following a defeat to Determine Girls, will face Soccer Ambassador Football in one of the semifinal matches, while Ravia Angels Football Club will take on the World Girls Football club.
During the first leg of the quarterfinals, Determine Girls Football Club shocked Shaita Angels in what many sports followers would describe as a fight for survival, when the girls with a determined spirit overturned Shaita Angels’ early lead in the dying minutes to win the first leg of the Orange Cup women match played on Tuesday February 6, 2024 at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia.
In a mouth-watering fixture at the examination hall of Liberian football, Shaita Angels took five minutes to convert a penalty, to earn a 1-0 first half win against their opponents.
The 2022-2023 women’s league most valuable player, Miatta Morris, stood for Shaita Angels’ penalty when Determine Girls defender, Ruggy Joof, forcefully brought down her teammate, Cynthia Weah, who was on the first counter attack in the game.
The Angels maintained their lead from the early start of the game and went to the half time break with victory.
A further defensive attempt was initiated to the game by the Careysburg-based team to collect their first win of the season against the champions, but it became impossible in the 75th minute.
Magrette Steward took goalkeeper Albertha Pratt by surprise when she took a long range shot from several meters away from the 18-yard box to find the equalizer that settled the pressure that was introduced to the game after the half time break.
In the 80th minute, Elizabeth Tamba came through with a stunning celebration after scoring the winning goal of the match to set the score line at 2-1 for the women league champions.
