By Alexis Monteith/Contributor

Last week, Our Today reported that Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz had registered six goals and an assist for their respective clubs in leagues around the world. It was a remarkable performance from Jamaican individuals. This week, we can add another seven goals and an assist to the goal tally after weekend action on Saturday, September 7 and Sunday, September 8.

Kayla McKenna

We start the count in Spain where Jamaican international Kayla McKenna made her debut appearance on Saturday for Madrid CFF in Spain’s top tier, Liga F. With her team tied at 1-1 away to UD Tenerife, McKenna scored the winning goal after Kamilla Melgård saw her shot blocked by the Tenerife goalkeeper.

Melgård collected the rebound in the penalty area and passed it to McKenna who was more central in the box. The Jamaican beat two defenders and then lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net to give Madrid their 2-1 lead.

Deneisha Blackwood

Elsewhere, also on Saturday, half a world away in Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil, Deneisha ‘Den Den’ Blackwood bagged another assist for Pumas Femenil.

With Pumas trailing Atlas 2-1 in the second half, Blackwood collected a diagonal through pass and entered the opponents penalty box from the left flank to pass the ball across the face of goal. It slipped past Pumas striker Stephanie Ribeiro but came to Aerial Chavarin who tapped it into the net for the equaliser.

Pumas would go on to win the match by a 4-2 scoreline.

Lexi Lloyd-Smith

It was a busy day in England on Sunday as the Women’s Championship season got underway. Bristol City were facing Southampton and found themselves one-nil down after a 47th minute Aimee Palmer free kick.

But Reggae Girl Lexi Lloyd-Smith who was making her debut for Bristol City had something she wanted to say to her former club. In the 62nd minute a cross from the left flank of the penalty box shot past two City attackers but found the Jamaican lurking just outside the crowd of players in the 18-yard area. The 21-year-old struck the ball first-time into the bottom left corner of the net.

“It felt amazing to be back at St Mary’s (her former home ground), to just have something to prove and to do in front of my friends and family,” Lloyd-Smith commented after the match. “It was more than enough today.”

The young player also shared an anecdote about her equaliser.

“Five minutes before I was coming off, [head coach Loren Dykes] said ‘get a goal for me, Lex’ and I’ve scored, so that was just amazing,” Lloyd-Smith related. “I feel like that was the cherry on the top of the cake, to be fair.”

Shania Hayles

Newcastle United Women opened their season with a game against London City Lionesses. This encounter represented a match between two very ambitious clubs backed by ample financial resources. 

Newcastle’s ownership group is led by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), while London City Lionesses was recently acquired by Korean-American businesswoman Michele Kang who also owns the Washington Spirit in the United States and Lyon’s women team in France.

Both sides, with their sights set on promotion to the Women’s Super League (WSL) this season, would have wanted to dominate this clash but the game would end in a 1-1 draw.

Jamaica’s Shania Hayles opened the scoring with a goal for Newcastle in the 20th minute. She received a pass just inside the 18-yard box, advanced on goal and slipped the ball past the goalkeeper who actually got a hand to it but couldn’t stop it.

London City Lionesses found their equaliser just before the half, courtesy of a strike from Swedish striker, Kosovare Asllani.

Lashante Paul & Melissa Johnson

Meanwhile in the English Women’s National League, Lachante Paul scored her third goal in four games, registering the eighth goal of an 8-0 demolition of MK Dons. Paul received the ball high in midfield and dribbled to the edge of the penalty box, unleashing a powerful aerial shot over the goalkeeper and into the top left corner of the goal.

In the northern division of the league, Reggae Girl Melissa Johnson bagged a brace for Nottingham Forest Women in their 9-0 rout of Stourbridge. Johnson scored the seventh and ninth goals of the game in the 83rd and 88th minutes. The 33-year-old forward has scored five goals for Forest in her last two games, with the club declaring their intent to win promotion to the Championship at the end of the season.

The 33-year-old forward has scored five goals for Forest in her last two games, with the club declaring their intent to win promotion to the Championship at the end of the season.

Kameron Simmonds

In the United States, Kameron Simmonds scored her first goal for Florida State University (FSU). The Reggae Girl registered the third goal of her team’s 3-0 win in a longstanding rivalry between Florida’s oldest public universities, FSU (the Seminoles) and University of Florida (the Gators).

Simmonds, a key figure in the team, had not registered a goal since the start of her debut season with the Seminoles—a span of five matches. But satisfaction would finally come on Sunday in the sixth game when the 20-year-old, making a run into the 18-yard box towards the penalty spot, collected a pass from Nina Norshie and fired it home with a first-time finish.

The former University of Tennessee player was ecstatic after the game.

“I just scored my first Florida State goal,” she declared in a video on FSU’s social media. “I’m just so excited, honestly, like I’ve been working so hard for this. It feels so good to be able to put a point on the scoreboard for the team. So special. Go Noles!”

More action to come

The past weekend saw the opening of the Women’s Championship in England, adding to the football activities of Reggae Girlz scattered around the globe. Just under two weeks from now, the English Women’s Super League will kick off with Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw at Manchester City; Chantelle Swaby at Leicester City; and Drew Spence and Rebecca Spencer at Tottenham Hotspur being the other Jamaican women set to join the football party.