ORLANDO, Florida – She may be soft spoken, but Grenada’s Cassie Rennie has made a large impression on the 2016 CONCACAF U-15 Girls’ Championship, which is currently being contested at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
The 14-year-old midfielder scored her team’s only goal in the 45th minute of a 1-1 draw with Nicaragua in the tournament opener for each on Tuesday.
“I was afraid, but I just relaxed and kicked the ball in,” Rennie told CONCACAF.com, when asked what she was thinking immediately prior to and after her shot. “It was challenging, but I did my best and I scored the goal.
“I was excited…I didn’t know what to do.”
The goal was not only big for Rennie, but also for the entire women’s program at the Grenada Football Association (GFA). Earlier this year, the GFA hosted the CONCACAF Under-17 Women’s Championship and the roster of the team competing in that tournament contained many of the same players now in Orlando.
The U17s lost each of its three games without finding the back of the net.
That experience gained by playing against older and higher-level competition, though, was expected to serve the young Grenadians well in the future. Part of that promise became reality on a hot and humid central Florida morning. For a squad that has been together for more than a year, the significance of Rennie’s goal inspired optimism.
“We did our best, but we could have scored more goals,” she said with a smile that revealed a hunger to accomplish even more on the football pitch.
The U15s appreciate the opportunity that they’ve worked hard to earn. Their CONCACAF journey means everything and they want to give back.
“[The players] love it because they get to go to other countries to participate for Grenada and make Grenada proud,” finished Rennie.
They are certainly doing that and more.
