Waterhouse FC advance to CONCACAF League
SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS, Dominican Republic (CMC) – Jamaican club Waterhouse are into the Scotiabank CONCACAF League (SCL) after making the best of their final shot at a spot when they faced Puerto Rico’s Bayamon FC.
A hat-trick from Andre Leslie – with the goals coming within a 10-minute period – helped power the Jamaicans to a 4-0 victory over the 2022 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield winners, at the Estadio Cibao FC.
Waterhouse needed the win to advance after missing the opportunity to secure a berth in the Flow CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship third-place match last Sunday.
A tight, intense first half in Wednesday’s match gave way to a much more open second half, and the key moment would come in the 67th minute when Stephen Williams struck the game’s first goal with a sensational left-footed strike from outside the area that beat Bayamon goalkeeper Joel Serrano.
Leslie struck 11 minutes later with a strong, right-footed shot that swung into the net, doubling his side’s lead to 2-0. But he was just getting started and in the 84th minute, his composed left-footed finish took the score to 3-0.
The SCL-clinching day for Waterhouse was then capped in the 87th minute as Leslie completed his hat trick and put the bow on the 4-0 score line, courtesy of another right-footed shot.
Waterhouse will know their schedule in the Concacaf League come on Wednesday, June 8, when the competition’s draw will be held in Miami.
The official draw for the SCL will take place on June 8.
The 2022 SCL will qualify six clubs to the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (SCCL) and will continue to be played in a direct elimination format, with home and away play in all five rounds – preliminary round, round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final.
The 22 clubs that will participate have qualified or will qualify in the coming weeks via domestic league play and regional cups.
In addition to Waterhouse FC, they are: Verdes FC of Belize; Canada’s Pacific FC; CS Herediano, LD Alajuelense and one to be confirmed club from Costa Rica; El Salvador’s Alianza FC, CD Aguila and CD Platense; Guatemala’s CD Malacateco, Comunicaciones FC and CSD Municipal; CD Olimpia, FC Motagua and Real CD España of Honduras; Nicaragua’s Diriangen FC and Real Esteli FC, Panama’s Alianza FC, Sporting San Miguelito and Tauro FC; and Atletico Vega Real and Cibao FC of the Dominican Republic.
The sixth and final edition of the SCL, which precedes a new CONCACAF club ecosystem launching in 2023-24, is scheduled to kick off in the last week of July.