The Barbados Football Association’s Kotex Women’s League delivered one of its most compelling matchups of the young season on Sunday, as Empire pulled off a gritty 2-2 draw against table-topping Paradise, bringing an end to the league leaders’ six-match consecutive winning run.
Paradise, the competition’s only remaining undefeated side, twice moved ahead on the scoreboard at the BFA Technical Centre in Wildey, but Empire fought back from a deficit on both occasions to hold onto a critical point in the table. The top-of-the-table clash, scheduled as the day’s final fixture, saw Paradise get off to a fast start, with forward Soraya Toppin-Herbert finding the back of the net in the seventh minute to put her side ahead early.
Empire did not let the early setback derail their game plan, and they managed to level the score going into halftime thanks to a 36th-minute finish from Lorell Romain. The two sides headed into the break deadlocked at 1-1, setting the stage for a tense second half. In the 55th minute, Paradise reclaimed their advantage when Shanice Stevenson slotted home a goal to push the score to 2-1, putting Empire on the brink of their first defeat in several weeks.
But Empire’s resilience once again shone through, as Asha Stevenson scored the game’s second equalizer for the underdogs in the 78th minute. Neither side managed to find a late winner in the remaining minutes of play, and the final whistle left the score locked at 2-2. The result marks the first time Paradise has dropped points throughout the entire 2024 season, a surprising turn that shakes up the league table ahead of the closing of the first competition round.
In an earlier fixture Sunday, the league’s bottom-ranked side Police earned their first win of the campaign, turning in a dominant 4-1 performance against Whitehall. Police got off to a flying start, earning a penalty in just the fourth minute that Shauntae Hinds converted to open the scoring. Forward Renee Burke doubled Police’s lead 21 minutes later, putting the side up 2-0 going into halftime.
Whitehall managed to pull one goal back early in the second half, with Serena Jackman finding the net in the 49th minute to cut the deficit to 2-1. But Police closed out the game strong, with Hinds scoring her second of the match in the 75th minute to restore the two-goal advantage. Burke capped off the victory with a second penalty conversion in stoppage time, wrapping up the 4-1 final scoreline for Police’s first three points of the season.
The first round of the Kotex Women’s League is set to conclude this coming Tuesday at the BFA Technical Centre, where undefeated Paradise will return to the pitch to face off against Technique in what is expected to be another highly competitive matchup.