Team Saint Lucia suffered a heavy 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Mexico in Concacaf Women’s Qualifying on Monday, March 2, at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.
Mexico dominated possession from the opening whistle, forcing the Saint Lucians onto the back foot early in front of a small but supportive home crowd.
Rebeca Bernal opened the scoring for the visitors in the 18th minute, nodding home a header from a corner kick. Mexico soon doubled their lead through Charlyn Corral, who found the net with a precise right-footed strike. The teams headed into the halftime break with Mexico leading 2-0.
The pressure intensified in the second half. An unfortunate own goal by Ellaisa Marquis in the 52nd minute extended Mexico’s lead further. Corral then secured her brace in the 64th minute, marking her ninth goal of the 2026 campaign.
The clinical performance continued in the 69th minute when Alexia Delgado rifled a right-footed shot into the net from outside the box. Nicolette Hernandez added a sixth in the 87th minute, before Diana Ordonez capitalised on a loose ball in the area during stoppage time (90+5′) to finalise the 7-0 scoreline.
In a post-match press conference, Saint Lucia’s head coach, Francis McDonald, revealed that the game plan was centred on damage control and limiting Mexico’s offensive output.
“We knew that Mexico was not going to make it easy for us, but our issue was to ascertain Mexico’s attacking purpose. They wanted to get goals to get on top of the table. [Our] job was to just remain defensive, try to play compactly, be defensive-disciplined, to make sure that we contained Mexico in such areas in mid-block and low-block, to make sure that we avoid the amount of goals that would have been scored,” he said.
While the scoreline was lopsided, the margin could have been significantly wider if not for the heroics of Saint Lucian goalkeeper Renala Francis, who pulled off several spectacular saves. McDonald was quick to praise Francis for her resilience.
Saint Lucia will look to bounce back when they face bottom-placed Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in their next fixture on April 19. The Piton Girls remain second from bottom on the points table.
