The Solomon Islands women’s national team have been knocked out of the OFC Women’s World Cup qualifiers following a heavy 8–0 defeat to New Zealand on Monday night at the National Stadium.
The loss marks the side’s second defeat of the competition after they were stunned 1–0 by American Samoa women’s national football team in their Group A opener on Friday.
The Football Ferns asserted their dominance early on, with Milly Clegg and Indiah-Paige Riley both finding the net inside the opening ten minutes.
New Zealand extended their lead after the half-hour mark when Hannah Blake added a third goal, sending her side into halftime with a commanding 3–0 advantage.
The visitors picked up where they left off in the second half. Grace Jale scored from long range before Blake added another to it 5–0 midway through the half.
Blake went on to complete her hat-trick in the 73rd minute, while Pia Vlok added the seventh shortly after.
Clegg, who opened the scoring early in the match, grabbed her second goal in the final ten minutes to seal the emphatic win.
Speaking after the match, Solomon Islands coach Daniel Barrett said that despite the result, he was proud of his players’ effort.
“We’re never happy not to win, but I’m super proud of the effort, to be fair. I thought our girls worked extremely hard. I said to the girls that something we can show greater than New Zealand is our effort. And look, I’m proud of them tonight,” he said.
“We stuck together from start to finish. Every goal we conceded or every goal we scored, you saw the girls come together. We had a little reset and then went again. We ran to the very end. We tried to stop them from scoring right to the very end and no one gave up. Staff, players and I can’t be more proud of that.”
Barrett also called on supporters to continue backing the team and to be proud of their performance against the world’s 35th ranked team.
“I hope you’re proud of your team. These girls love playing for their country and love playing in front of their fans.
“They don’t get to do it all the time. I know we didn’t get the result, but I think the effort was there for everyone to see,” he added.
Solomon Islands will now play for pride this Thursday when they take on Samoa, who have also been eliminated after suffering two defeats.
By TIMOTHY INIFIRI JNR
Solomon Star, Honiara
Photo: New Zealand’s Hannah Blake and Solomon Islands’ Claudia Votu during FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifiers 2027, OFC Qualifiers at National Stadium Honiara. Photo: Joshua Devenie / Phototek.nz
