A great start for the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Under 16 (U16) Women's team in the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship Qualifying Tournament played at the PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby city yesterday.

The PNG U16 Women’s Football team ran riot over American Samoa U16 Women’s team in the first half of their qualifying match with a 6-Nil effort.

A first half treble of goals to Chriszanne Sifas, a double to Oscalyn Gunemba while Joyleen Lise scored a goal to complete their first half with the 6-Nil lead.

The much smaller and faster PNG girls outpaced their much heavier opponents all throughout the half spending most part of the game camped deep in their opponent’s territory.

The second half of their football match was a bit competitive as both teams defended well. However, it was American Samoa that came back strong scoring 2 of their goals in the early stages of the second half to trail by 2-6.

Both teams were guilty of many mistakes with forced passes and passes not finding their marks, with missed goal scoring opportunities. However, the PNG girls finished the match strongly by scoring two late goals to finish the match with an 8-2 victory.

PNG will face-off with Cook Islands this Friday with the winner to qualify for the OFC Championships. Cook Islands are currently leading with 10 goals, 2 goals ahead of PNG.

The PNG girls will need to keep the Cook Islands scoreless in their game and score at least 3 or more goals to finish at the top and qualify for the OFC U16 Championships.