Captain Jody Brown was again the star of the show, scoring four goals to lead her young Reggae Girlz team into the quarter-finals of the Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship with a 9-1 thrashing of Bermuda in the Round of 16 in the Dominican Republic yesterday.

Brown, who has been on top of her game since the start of the campaign, continued her rich vein of form scoring in the 13th, 61st, 76th, and 90+1 minutes to take her tally to eight goals so far in the tournament.

Substitute Sydoney Clarke had a brace in the 83rd and 89th minutes, while Lacey-Ann Murray (12th,) Nevillegail Able (40th), and Chantelle Parker (53rd), had one apiece at Estadio Panamericano in San Cristobal.

Nia Christopher got Bermuda’s consolation in the 26th minute.

The Jamaicans, who went unbeaten on their way to topping Group E now have 20 goals in four games, and are heavily favoured to be among the final four teams with hopes of securing an historic Fifa World Cup qualification.

They will face the winner of the Dominican Republic versus El Salvador contest in the quarter-finals, where another victory could possibly see them come face-to-face with 2018 beaten finalists United States or Canada in the semi-finals.

Only the March 8 finalists will qualify for the World Cup to be hosted jointly by Costa Rica and Panama.

Having previously defeated Bermuda 7-0 and 2-0 during qualifiers in 2013 and 2017, Jamaica’s young Reggae Girlz were always expected to come out on top, and they did just that with another dominant display.

They wasted little time to declare their intentions with Brown again leading from the front with two muffed efforts in the fifth and ninth minutes.

But the deadlock was inevitably broken three minutes later when Zakhari Turner left her line and lost possession to Murray, who comfortably buried a right-footer.

A minute later, Fray slipped a through-pass to an overlapping Brown, who finished off with a thumping right-footed effort from deep inside the 18-yard box to make it 2-0.

Jamaica continued to go at Bermuda fast and furious and it took a well-timed jump from Turner on her line to tip Peyton McNamara’s stinging 18th-minute shot from distance over the crossbar.

The resulting corner fell kindly for Gabrielle Gayle at the far post, but the towering right full back, couldn’t keep her effort down.

Bermuda were given hope of pulling off a comeback when a long ball from the middle of the park caught Jamaica’s custodian Ella Dennis in two minds at the top of the 18-yard area and Christopher capitalised with a decisive touch to steer the ball into an empty net.

The fleet-footed Christopher almost had another for her team in the 37th minute when she broke away from centre back Lauren Reid, but her final shot was blocked by Dennis diving to her left.

However, it was the Jamaicans who surged further ahead when McNamara’s weighted corner found Able, who finished off an open header at the far post to make it 3-1 at the break.

The one way traffic continued eight minutes into the resumption when Brown’s intended pass to Marlee Fray picked out Parker instead and the striker finished with precision.

One minute past the hour mark, Brown slipped by three defenders on her way to completing an easy finish from close range to make it 5-1.

With the wind knocked from beneath Bermuda’s wings, Clarke, who replaced Fray in the 60th minute, found herself in some good positions and had her first shot on goal tipped onto the crossbar by Turner in the 74th.

Jaden Roberts produced one of her menacing runs a minute later and was brought down inside the area, paving the way for Brown to step up and complete her hat-trick from the 12-yard spot.

After cursing her luck, Clarke eventually got on the scoresheet when she split the two centre backs to add the finishing touch to Murray’s cross from close range.

She was also on hand minutes later to head home Gayle’s cross to complete her brace.

Brown then capped off the win when she broke down the middle and got by the advancing Turner to walk the ball into the net in time added.

— Sherdon Cowan