2nd Half Kicks off

The Suba Lakers opened the 2nd leg of their Nationwide Division I league this past weekend by taking the longest trip of the season.  They travelled on Saturday to Naivasha to take on the Oserian Queens.  In the very first game of the inaugural season the Queens defeated the Lakers in Mbita 2-1 and that  was the difference in the standings between the two teams with the Queens holding a 3 point advantage because of that win. 

Several of the Suba Laker high school players were not available this time around because of committments in their schools and so their travelling squad consisted of half primary school girls and half secondary school girls.  The inexperience showed through in a 2-0 loss to the more mature and seasoned Oserian Queen players, but the standout performance was delivered by Suba Laker goal keeper Lillian Awuor who saved close to 15 shots on goal, inlcuding some acrobatic efforts that kept the game close.  The 6th grader even caught the eyes of the opposing team. 

The Lakers had some vehicle problems on the way home but eventually reached in the night and are now busy preparing for a home match this coming weekend. 

Winning in Style

The Suba Lakers hosted arch rivals Kisumu Leeds United in the last match of the 1st leg of the FKF Division I league.  Both teams have struggled a little bit in the first leg and were battling to stay in the middle of the pack halfway through the season. 

There was a big crowd at Mbita High School to watch the home team play, and they stayed noisy for the entire 90 minutes.  The Lakers started well and created many chances early on, playing with good ball-control and taking charge of the match, but never finished.  Early in the 2nd half Dorothy Adhiambo created a chance resulting in a handball from Leeds.  Raisha Achieng converted the penalty kick to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. 

After Kisumu Leeds equalized, the Lakers slowly regained control and pulled out the victory with a low line drive shot by Alicent Awuor.  The 2-1 victory was probably the best performance of the season from the Lakers up to this point as they demonstrated great ball possession and played like seasoned veterans. 

With the win, the Lakers now have 7 points on the season with 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses.  They are sitting in 5th place out of 7 teams at the halfway point, but are only 2 points out of third place. 

After the game, many of them returned to their high schools as we received word that the public school teacher strike had finally been called off, after 4 weeks.  When the 2nd leg of the season cranks up some of the high school girls will be able to continue playing while others will have to be replaced by some of our primary school players. 

Bad News and Good News

The bad  news is that almost all of our girls are not in school right now because the public school teachers in Kenya have gone on strike demanding more.  Term 3 was supposed to begin the first week of September, but it never started because of the strike.  The government and the teachers union still seem very far away from reaching an agreement.  It is only a 9 week term, and two of those weeks have already been lost.  Our 8th graders will be taking their National Exams in less than 2 months but are not able to adequately prepare for this big event in their life because there are no teachers!  Pray for them to be disciplined and focused to study on their own.

The good news is that most of the girls are back in Mbita and able to continue training with the club and playing in our league games.  The team travelled to Kendu Bay this weekend to play Victoria Football Club.  On a rainy day, the Lakers gave up a couple of goals in the first half including a penalty kick that was a questionable call.  They fought hard in the 2nd half and almost equalized, but came up short in the 2-0 loss on the rain-soaked field.

Next week they will play at home against Kisumu Leeds in the final match of 1st half of the season.  They are still positioned in middle of the league standings.    

Win, Lose or Draw

The Division One season continued this past weekend with a home match against Nyuki Starlets from Western Province.  In the first half 6th grader Lencer Adoyo scored the first goal for the Lakers, who still found themselves trailing at half-time 2-1.  In the second half Caren Akeyo scored a great header to even up the score and the game ended in a 2-2 draw.

The secondary girls will be returning to their boarding schools this week and the primary school girls will also be starting their last term of the year.  After a week off, the season will resume on September 15th. So far the Lakers have won 1, lost 2 and drawn 1.

Division 1 Season Continues

The Suba Lakers went on the road for their 2nd and 3rd games in the FKF Nationwide Ladies Division 1 League.  After dropping a close one at home 1-0 to the league leaders, the Lakers headed out to Eldoret and Kakamega last weekend.

On Saturday in Eldoret they faced Kick to Life.  The field was less than ideal, but they made the best of the situation and jumped on the home team early with a goal from Irine Achieng.  A little later Dorothy Adhiambo was fouled inside the box and Irine slotted home her 2nd goal of the day.  Alicent Awuor rounded out the scoring with a screamer from outside the box.  Kick to Life was very big and fast, but the Lakers defense proved strong and Lillian Awuor did a good job between the posts.  The much younger Lakers held on for a 3-2 victory.

On Sunday, they were in Kakamega to play against Kakamega Muslim who had won their first match of the season in convincing fashion. The first half was played at a very high level.  The Lakers created many chances, but couldn't score a goal.  In the 2nd half, Kakamega scored a goal when it bounced over the goalkeeper.  That bad fortune deflated the hopes of the girls and the Lakers ended up losing 3-0.

Going on the road and getting one win out of two is a good result.  The Lakers are currently in 4th place out of 7 teams in the Western Zone of the league.  Next Saturday (Sep 1) they will be hosting Nyuki in Mbita.

1st Match

The Suba Lakers played their first game in the inaugural Kenya Division I Ladies League last Saturday, August 18th.  The new football federation has started the 2nd tier league for ladies as a springboard to the Premier League.  Our zone is made up from teams all over the Western half of the country.  The first match was at home against Oserian from Naivasha.  They come from just outside of Nairobi.

Because schools are having a three week holiday, every one of our school going girls were available for the game.  We only had one player missing from the team because she hadn't yet been approved by the Federation.

Oserian scored in the 10th minute on a goalkeeping error, but the Lakers battled back to score a goal in the 2nd half in the 60th minute.  Dorothy Adhiambo struck it into the back of the net.  A few minutes later Pheny Akoth also hit the back of the net with a header, but for some unexplained reason the referee disallowed the goal and brought the ball back for a free kick instead.  Even though the Lakers battled hard, Oserian later netted the winner in the 80th minute to take home a 2-1 win over the Suba Lakers.

Outstanding performers for the ladies included Lydia Awino playing fullback, Raysher Jedida manning the midfield and Irine Achieng on the left wing.

The Lakers will travel to Eldoret and Kakamega this weekend for two more matches.

Division I League

It is official!  The Suba Lakers have joined the Football Kenya Federation Division I Nationwide Ladies League.  We have been able to pay all of the fees required and have registered all of our players.  The league was supposed to kick off today, 11th August, but because of some problems that other teams were having, they postponed it until next weekend. 

We will be competing in the Western Region with the following teams: Oserian from Naivasha, Kick to Life from Eldoret, Kakamega Muslim, Kisumu Leeds United and Victoria from Kendu Bay.  We will play each team home and away with the top teams qualifying for the Kenya Ladies Premier League next year.  It is quite an honor to be invited to play in the 2nd highest league for ladies in the country and we are looking for individuals and corporations in Kenya that will be able to help support us financially with travel costs and other expenses.

Here are the tentative fixtures for the first leg of the league:

Aug 18th     Oserian (home)
Aug 25th     Kick to Life (Eldoret)
Aug 26th     Kakamega Muslim (Kakamega)
Sep 1st       Kisumu Leeds (home)
Sep 15th     Victoria (Kendu Bay)