Barbican toast of Women’s Premier League awards ceremony
To the victors, the spoils.
And as expected, champions Barbican Football Club was the toast of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Sherwin Williams Women’s Premier League awards ceremony at the JFF headquarters in New Kingston yesterday.
Barbican, the giants of local women’s football, enjoyed an unprecedented triple-crown defence when they copped the Colourscape Knockout and mid-season titles. They then secured a historic seventh consecutive league title when they defeated Arnett Gardens 3-0 in the league final on December 13 at the Waterhouse Stadium.
Barbican were awarded a combined total of $580,000 and winners trophies in all competitions. Their central defender Davia Smith was named the league’s Most Valuable Player, while another Barbican player, Shanique Smith. was named Most Valuable Player of the knockout competition.
Barbican’s lethal striker Tashana Vincent won the Top Goal-scorer award for both competitions for her 11 goals in the knockout and 18 in the league. Abigail Palmer was named Top Goalkeeper as she conceded only one goal in 15 games.
Meanwhile, Barbican captain Alicia James walked away with the Winning Captain Award, as well as the Most Valuable Player of the Season Award as she played an influential role in her team’s dominance.
“I am very proud of the ladies because week in, week out they come and they give it their all. Training was hard and the games for the most part were hard and I think they did a tremendous job this season,” James told the Jamaica Observer.
“I am also proud of myself (as) I think I did well seeing that the season before I played only six games because of knee surgery. So for me to come back around the following season, I feel really proud of my performance,” added James, who has been leading the team for the past eight seasons.
Victorious coach Charles Edwards walked away with the Winning Coach Award and the Coach of the Year award.
“I am very happy with our accomplishments, the team has done fantastic,” said Edwards.
UWI Women’s won the Fairplay Award, while their representative Khadra Brooks and Barbican’s Tramaine Brown were both recipients
of the Sherwin Williams Women’s Premier League Scholarship Award.
