The final game of the University of Ghana Womens’s Football League (UGFWL) took place on Monday between tournament favorites, Akuafo hall and the resilient Mensah Sarbah hall at the Sarbah Main field, with Uriana Polley’s double inspiring a 4-1 Akuafo victory.
The venue of the game suited Mensah Sarbah hall, with the game being played a few kilometers from their hall of residence. Nonetheless, Akuafo hall, who have portrayed dominance in previous editions of the competition were bent favorites to nick the trophy once more.
The farmers dominance in the UG inter hall games in both the men and women’s division has been quite glaring over the years, with the respective sides a country mile away from the other halls of residence.
Although one might argue that it was a relatively smooth path to the final for Akuafo hall, with the side having earned the opportunity to battle in the decider by relatively easy means; the withdrawals of the other halls of residence, marred the competitive nature of the women’s football league competition with only four participating halls, namely Bani, Volta, Sarbah and Akuafo. And as a result, many games were forfeited to hand the teams present maximum points and 3 additional goals, of which Mensah Sarbah and Akuafo profited from.
It was Akuafo who dominated proceedings in the first half and were the better of the two sides.
The dominance of Akuafo paid off when Joana Asantewaa dribbled her way past three Mensah Sarbah players before slotting the ball past their goalkeeper, Gloria Yartey to put Akuafo ahead on the stroke of half time.
Sarbah came flying out of the traps after the interval and found their cohesion and rhythm in midfield but were soon dealt a major setback in their aspirations to get back into the game; Priscilla Dadzie’s strike from the edge of the box doubled Akuafo’s lead on the hour mark.
Akuafo’s second goal set the wind out of the sails of a motivated second-half Sarbah performance. Post-grad student, Uriana Polley ensured there was no root back into the game for Sarbah with a well placed finish from the edge of the box in the 75th minute.
5 minutes after the Akuafo goal, Mensah Sarbah hall were full of cheers as their skipper and forward, Marcia Afriyie made sure Sarbah netted her 3rd goal of the competition from the penalty spot to give Sarbah a glimmer of hope in the contest. The forward’s strike proved to be a mere consolation in the grand scheme of proceedings rather than a goal to spark a seemingly improbable comeback.
Evelyn Etsiwah’s 78th minute send-off proved to have little bearing on the outcome of the game, as the result was put beyond doubt in stoppage time with the phenomenal Uriana Polley striking her second goal of the game from a similar distance as the first to ensure Akuafo’s victory on the day.
The result meant Akuafo finished as top of the group with the most points (9) which automatically meant finishing as the overall best female hall and thus clinching the trophy.
Akuafo’s win was warmly welcomed by their assistant, Ebenezer Eshun who revealed his team were not at full strength despite the victory.
“It was a normal game. I’ve got some of my key players missing out but then we know we are able to capitalize on the little quality that we have, and that is exactly what we did. We made the game simple for ourselves and at the end we carried out with the 3 points,” he said.
Coach Ebenezer further addressed the issue of getting football players on board to represent the hall as a daunting one; he pleaded with the UG Sports Directorate to review some fixtures of football players involved in multi sporting disciplines.
“It is always difficult getting players because most of the sports ladies, they also take part in volleyball, hockey, basketball and others. So sometimes, the directorate has to take a look at some of their matches so it doesn’t crash because it can be very very difficult for us to get the entire team.”
Concurrenty, the UG hall games has neared its climax as it enters it penultimate week across the various sports disciplines.
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Story by: Andrews Sefa Bamfo | univers.ug.edu.gh
