The first trophy of the women’s football season will be decided this afternoon when last season’s winner Portmore Strikers go up against Barbican for the Sherwin Williams mid-season crown at Duhaney Park field starting at 3:30 pm.

This game will be preceded by a match between the national Under-17s and a Sherwin Williams All-Stars team at 1:30 pm.

In the two meetings between the finalists this season, each have won once, with Barbican winning the league match earlier in the season by 3-1.

Portmore, on the other hand, rallied to eliminate the Charles Edwards-coached team 3-1 on penalties from the knockout competition in the first round of matches, after the teams ended 1-1 after regulation and extra-time.

So today’s encounter is expected to be evenly poised, but Portmore’s coach Cornel Clarke believes his team has made this cup theirs over the years and they do not intend to relinquish easily this afternoon.

“People always say the mid-season belong to Portmore, while the knockout belongs to Harbour View, because of the amount of times the clubs won those (respective) trophies.

“We have won it more than any other club, six times already, and we will try to add this one to the collection,” he stated.

Clarke said his team lost to Barbican earlier in the league as they were not at full strength. However, he felt they could have won the knockout by a wider margin.

“This game will be a different, but both teams are good teams and we will be coming to play our usual attacking football, so Barbican will have to come and defend,” he insisted.

And although the St Catherine club will be missing Mellisa Madden, who returned overseas for college, and possible Jodian Morris, who’s awaiting her visa to also take up a scholarship, Clarke is confident in the abilities of his other players.

“We are missing those two players, but we still have a formidable team,” he warned.

Meanwhile, last season’s triple-crown champion Barbican will be without their coach and key motivator, Charles Edwards for the encounter.

The former national women’s team coach has been off the island for over two weeks now and his absence could impact performance.

In Edwards’ absence, Neville McFarlane will oversee the team, but a lot will remain with captain Alicia James and her onfield leadership.

James, Jody-Ann McGregor, Janine Dennis, Kessian Walker, Phillissia Lewis, Marcalee McBean and Shareca Stevens can provide necessary fireworks in the quest to topple the defending mid-season champions.

Portmore will look to the league’s top-scorer Venecia Reid, Rochelle Bryan, Iesha Mowatt and former Barbican striker, Nadola Chase to lead them to victory.