The 2026 CONCACAF Women’s Championship Qualifiers have delivered another disappointing result for the Saint Lucia national women’s football team, who slipped to the bottom of their group after falling to a fourth straight defeat on Saturday, April 18. Hosted at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, the tight contest ended in a 1-0 win for St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), leaving Saint Lucia still scrambling for solutions to reverse their poor run of form.
The only goal of the match came early, in the 14th minute, after a foul was called against Saint Lucia’s Krysan St. Louis just outside the attacking half. That set piece opportunity fell to 25-year-old SVG midfielder Karesha Iton, a Chatham United central player who stepped up to take the 35-yard attempt. Iton unleashed a powerful, soaring strike that caught Saint Lucia’s goalkeeper completely off guard; the ball bounced just in front of the net before rolling across the goal line. What made the moment even more special for Iton is that it marked her first ever international goal, coming in only her second senior cap for SVG’s national side, the Lady Heat.
Despite the lopsided final result on the scoreboard, possession statistics told a very different story. Saint Lucia dominated the ball for 58.2% of the match, and outshot SVG 11 attempts to six. However, the hosts struggled with final precision: only five of their 11 shots were on target, and just four came from inside the 18-yard box. St. Louis, Kayla Polius and Kyla Lionel all notched two shots apiece to lead Saint Lucia’s attacking efforts, but none could find the back of the net to equalize.
For SVG, the three points capped off an impressive late turnaround in their qualifying campaign, closing out their group stage participation with two consecutive wins. They finished third in Group A with a 2-0-2 record, despite conceding 24 goals across their four matches. For Saint Lucia, the defeat extended a miserable run: the side has conceded 18 goals across five qualifying matches, while managing to score only one goal of their own, remaining rooted to the bottom of the group table. Mexico closed out Group A play with a flawless 4-0 record to secure their place at the top of the standings.