JAMAICA’S young Reggae Girlz are through to the quarter-finals of the Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship, after registering a comfortable 4-0 win over Caribbean neighbours Cuba in their round-of-16 contest at Estadio Olympico Felix Sanchez on Sunday.

Captain Dannique Wilson led from the front with a brace in the third and 73rd minutes to take her tally to three goals in the tournament.

Shaneil Buckley (53rd) and leading scorer Natoya Atkinson (59th) also got on the scoresheet for their second and fourth of the tournament, respectively, in the dominant performance.

The win saw the young Reggae Girlz booking a quarter-final date with powerhouses and defending champions United States on Wednesday.

Despite heavy underfoot conditions caused by afternoon showers in Santo Domingo, Cuba left the blocks more spiritedly and fired the first two warning shots from a distance, both of which were comfortably taken by young Reggae Girlz goaltender Liya Brooks.

However, it was the Jamaicans who drew first blood from a set play off their very first attack of the encounter. Wilson rose highest to expertly head Shaneil Buckley’s weighted corner kick past Chaila Hernandez in goal for Cuba.

Still, the Cubans continued to show promise in their build-ups and Dalia Ledesma even got a couple more shots on target, the last of which was a free kick that was spilled by Brooks, causing some anxious moments before eventually being mopped up by the defence.

Atkinson should have doubled the young Reggae Girlz lead in the 19th minute when she got away from defenders but her hurried effort went straight into the gloves of the slightly advanced Hernandez.

From there, the Jamaicans enjoyed the better of play well past the half-hour mark and had a few opportunities to extend their lead in the latter stages, but Maya Raghunandanan first hit her left-footed shot wide on the break.

And Atkinson also went on the break but failed to pull the trigger on time, resulting in her effort being charged down by a recovering defender who ensured the score remained unchanged at the break.

Like they did in the first half, the Cubans again came out more purposeful on the resumption with Sheila Vega connecting with Rut Vargas on the right side — but the latter’s effort was deflected wide by a defender.

But, that was all the goalmouth action they would see as the Jamaicans asserted their authority and inevitably doubled the lead eight minutes in when Buckley went on a dazzling solo effort down the left channel from where she shook her marker and finished with aplomb.

Buckley, who represents Waterhouse and Excelsior High, then orchestrated a tidy build-up six minutes later when she combined with Raghunandanan who placed a pass on a platter for Atkinson to fire home from just inside the 18-yard box.

Atkinson could have added another in the 63rd but was again hesitant in pulling the trigger and was later dispossessed.

The young Reggae Girlz continued to wear down the Cuban defenders with consistent pressure and were duly rewarded when Buckley’s free kick found a wide open Raghunandanan who whipped in a left-footed cross that was poked home by Wilson from close range.

Though they tried, the young Reggae Girlz’ probe to widen the gap was fruitless as Cuba held firm for the remainder of the game.