LENNON High School out of Clarendon successfully defended their ISSA/Locker Room Sports Schoolgirl Football title for the second consecutive year after beating former champions Excelsior High 2-1 in the final at the Prison Oval yesterday.

Camielle Hill put the Merron Gordon-coached Lennon ahead in the 35th minute and Finals MVP Sasha-Lee Cooper added the second a minute into the second half.

Davia Morrison pulled a goal back for Excelsior in the 46th, but in the end, their opponents proved too strong and came away deserved winners.

“The game went down to the wire, but my girls were fitter than the Excelsior girls, so our fitness prevailed at the end,” Gordon said afterwards.

Lennon made an impressive start, forcing their opponents on the defensive and creating four great opportunities in the opening 10 minutes.

They did find the net through Shanese Bowen in the 12th, but referee Cardella Samuels spotted an infringement after Hill had crossed from the right.

However, Lennon kept at their opponents with wave after wave of attack and eventually found the breakthrough five minutes before half-time when Hill crashed a header off the crossbar and into the net from a corner to send Lennon 1-0 up at the break.

Excelsior’s troubles worsened immediately following the resumption when goalkeeper Shantel Graham misjudged a hefty clearance from Cooper from inside her half which bounced over the Excelsior goalkeeper and into the net.

However, Excelsior reduced the deficit and got back into the match minutes later when Morrison, their most outstanding player, scored directly from a corner kick for the Xavier Gilbert-coached team.

It was only the third goal conceded by goalkeeper Shena Wint all season.

The goal restored Excelsior’s hope and they did look threatening and appeared as if they would give the champions a run going into the final minutes of the match.

However Lennon, through captain Chevelle Lopez, Hill and Joy Douglas, regained control of the match and Bowen wasted a number of chances to put the game away.

But despite not adding to their goal tally, the defence — marshalled by Cooper, Tanya Desport and Nardia Guthrie — was in a no-nonsense mood as they held out to the final whistle.

Gilbert conceded that the better team won on the day.

“Credit to my girls, I thought we did well… but Lennon have played some fantastic football all season and they were the dominant team here today,” he said.

Meanwhile, counterpart Gordon was already eyeing a fourth straight schoolgirl title next season.

“As long as everything is okay we should have back our starting 11, so we will be looking for four in a row,” he declared.

David Shirley of sponsors Locker Room Sports said his company was pleased to have come aboard schoolgirl football and would continue to support the venture.

“I was very impressed and we’re pleased to be a part of this competition, so Locker Room is looking forward to building the competition with ISSA,” said Shirley.