VILLA BEACH, St Vincent and the Grenadines — They came, they saw and they conquered.

That appropriately sums up the manner in which Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Girlz dispatched their opponents in the recent CONCACAF Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Qualifiers at Arnos Vale Sports Complex.

Striker Rochell Gray was particularly enjoying the demolition job Jamaica did on their opponents, fristly blowing away St Kitts and Nevis 10-0 on Friday, then crushing hosts St Vincent and the Grenadines 7-0 on Sunday.

The 15-year-old Gray scored twice in Sunday’s blowout, hitting the target in the eighth minute when received a through pass from Nevillegail Able inside the 18-yard box and easily tapped home from close range. Gray’s second came in the 53rd minute when she swiftly dismissed three defenders and fired past Samonique La Borde in goal for St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The other goals were scored by Jaden Roberts (21st minutes), Sydoney Clarke (penalty 44th minute), Jody Brown (penalty 64th minutes), Monique Perrier (72nd) and Davia Richards (88th minutes).

“It feels really good whenever I put on the Jamaica jersey to play. The feel is great and I am always excited. I think I performed really well in the game, I got two goals and I am very thankful for that. I think the team also performed very well.

“Each time I go on the field, I always try to do my best. I am in good shape right now and playing well and so I always use my form and try to help my team every time,” Gray told the Jamaica Observer.

Gray, who was also instrumental in Jamaica’s victory over St Kitts and Nevis, scoring another two goals, knows very well that success only comes with hard work and dedication.

“I am playing football from a very long time. To be exact, I am playing football from primary school and so you can see the commitment and the loyalty I have to the sport.

“You just don’t get up one day say you are going to play football and score a lot of goals. These things take a lot of hard work and dedication to achieve greatness and to be successful. It takes a lot of determination.

“I take my football very seriously and I am willing to put in the hard work and sometimes going the extra mile. One day, I would like to make a profession out of this,” the Inswood High School student said.

After those victories, Jamaica, along with the other four Group winners, advanced to the final stage of qualification and will join Haiti as the host of the final round to be held October 16-22.

In the final round, the six teams will be drawn into two groups of three. Teams finishing first in the two groups shall automatically qualify for the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship. The runner-up teams of the groups shall playoff in a single match to determine the third place team to qualify for the 2018 confederation play-offs.

“We have completed one phase already and that was to make it through the first preliminary round and go to the final round in Haiti. We are the defending Caribbean champions and I don’t see why we can’t defend our title. We are going to Haiti and win and that is what is on my mind at the moment,” Gray said.

— Ruddy Allen