Jamaica Reggae Girlz striker, Khadijah Shaw, bagged a brace as the team kicked off its World Cup qualification campaign in strong fashion with a 4-0 win over Bermuda at the National Stadium on Thursday.

After missing several presentable opportunities early on, against a game Bermuda unit, Jamaica finally took the lead in the 21^st minute when Jodi Brown opened the scoring.  Trudy Carter doubled the team’s lead 9 minutes later after booting the ball into the net from around 8 yards, profiting from a late run into the box and a searching cutback from Brown on the flank.

Shaw, who headed the ball onto the ball early on, looked to have earned a penalty when she was brought down midway the second half by Bermuda goalkeeper Micah Pond, but her protest was waved off by the referee.

 The Manchester City forward made no mistake in the 79^th minute, adding the team’s third after smashing the ball high into the net from close range, after the goalkeeper had parried an effort from winger Kalyssa Van Zanten.  She added her second only moments from the final whistle after picking up the ball ten yards from goal, swiveling around her defender, and firing home.

The team will face Grenada in the second match of the round on Sunday.

Reggae Girl Jody Brown and her Florida State University team have won the NCAA Division 1 women’s soccer College Cup with a 4-3 win over Brigham Young University on penalties on Monday.

FSU rebounded from last year when they lost the championship game to Santa Clara University on penalties, and their coach, Mark Krikorian, referenced that game in his post-match interview.

“It feels quite nice to be sitting on this side of it. Last year, I thought that we were quite good and had some unfinished business that we needed to address,” said Krikorian.

Chinese midfielder, Yujie Zhao, scored the winning penalty kick for the Seminoles who won their third women’s national championship in history and second in the past four years.

“I had faith that we were going to win in the penalty kicks. I was super, super happy,” Zhao said.

Their goalkeeper, Cristina Roque, made two saves in the penalty shootout.

“Last year, it just didn’t go our way and everyone was behind me then, and I knew whatever happened this year, they were going to be behind me. It does feel better here,” said Roque.