Jamaica’s young Reggae Girlz gave head coach Hugh Bradford something to smile about, as they concluded their failed Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship campaign on a high with a 4-1 beating of Panama, at the Felix Sanchez Stadium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Tuesday.

Natoya Atkinson (16th), Davia Richards (32nd), Maya Raghunandanan (37th) and Amelia Van Zanten (74th) were on target for the Bradford’s side, while Meredith Rosas, got Panama’s consolation in the 79th minute.

With the win, the Girlz ended Group A in third on three points scoring four goals and conceding nine, behind United States and Canada, to whom they suffered identical 0-4 defeats. Panama finished at the foot of the standing without a point.

It was a dominant performance by the Girlz, who for the first time in the tournament played with some degree of freedom and bossed possession throughout.

 In fact, they were so fluent in attack, particularly in the first half, to the point where they held a high line, got significant numbers forward and camped out in Panama's quarters.

After firing a few warning shots, the Girlz inevitably broke the deadlock when Atkinson fired home from close range, after Destiny Powell’s initial effort came back off the crossbar.

Though they continued to apply consistent pressure, the Girlz had to wait until minutes past the half-hour mark to double their lead. Richards converted from the 12-yard spot, after Mireilis Rojas was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the 18-yard box on the VAR review.

Panama was not without hope, as they tried to play their game and even stringed a few good build ups together to remind the Jamaicans of their potential but couldn’t get anything on frame.

However, the Jamaicans pushed further ahead through Raghunandanan, who pounced on loose ball and lashed a one-time effort from a distance past Alejandra Garay, in goal for Panama, to make it 3-0 at the break.

Panama was never expected to overturn the deficit, but they were certainly more purposeful on the resumption with Sherline King forcing a fingertip save from Jamaica’s goalkeeper Katie Oakley in the 58^th minute.

The Central Americans grew in confidence in the attacking third as the game progressed, especially as the young Reggae Girlz briefly became complacent and overconfident.

When they regained composure, the Jamaicans added a fourth courtesy of Van Zanten from the penalty spot, after the fleet-footed Shaneil Buckley was taken out by Garay inside the danger area.

But Panama responded shortly after with a 12-yard conversion of their own. Substitute Andrene Smith felled Aaliyah Gil in the 18-yard box, shortly after entering the pitch and Rosas was cool, calm and collected in firing past Oakley.

The Jamaicans could have added to their tally in the latter stages, but lacked composure in the final third, while it took some brilliance from Oakley to deny Gil, from a distance, four minutes from time.

The Jamaica Football Federation has named a 20-player squad that will represent the country at the 2023 Concacaf Women’s U20 championship in the Dominican Republic from May 22 to June 3. The players are scheduled to depart for the championship on Saturday, May 20.

Jamaica will play in a tough Group A that also comprises the United States, Canada and Panama. Group B is made up of Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic.

After round-robin play, the two best teams from each group will advance to a knockout stage. All knockout stage matches with the two finalists and the third-place match winner qualifying for next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

The matches will be played across two venues - the Estadio Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo and the Estadio Panamericano in San Cristobal.

The United States is the current champion (seventh title overall) of the CWU20 after defeating Mexico 2-0 in the 2022 Final.

The Jamaica squad is as follows: Andrene Smith, Shaneil Buckley, Una Moy Lue, Davia  Richards, Liha Williams, Taijah Fraser, Tiny Seaton, Kaitlyn Ennis, Natoya Atkinson, Destiny Powell, Akeila Johnson, Janiel Mignott, Amelia Zanten, Liya Brooks, Avery Johnson, Maya Raghunandanan, Anaiyah Robinson, Njeri  Butts, NjerI Lewis, Katie Oakley.

A goal in each half from Maya Raghunandanan helped steer Jamaica to a 7-0 drubbing of Bermuda in their opening match in the CONCACAF U17 Women’s Championships in the Dominican Republic on Sunday.

Raghunandanan opened the scoring in the seventh minute and added a second in the 65^th as Jamaica dominated the lop-sided affair to go top of Group F which also comprises Canada and the home team, the Dominican Republic.

Jamaica took 39 shots at goal, 12 on target and should have won by a more handsome margin. Notwithstanding, Avery Johnson added a second in the 11^th minute and Tiny Seaton added a third in the 16^th as Jamaica threatened to run rampant.

However, through faulty finishing by Jamaica, Bermuda managed to make it to the break without going further behind.

Jamaica added a fourth in the 47^th minute courtesy of Tyesha Nelson but Jamaica had to wait a while before Raghunandanan got her second 18 minutes later. Shaneil Buckley added Jamaica’s sixth in the 78^th minute.

Natoya Atkinson, who came on as a substitute for Johnson in the 64^th completed the rout seven minutes from full time.

The Dominican Republic is set to face Canada later Sunday.

Panama defeated Trinidad and Tobago 5-1 and the United States swamped Grenada 20-0 on Saturday.