USSSA Elite Games girls Football: A deeper insight into the championship surprise team.

By Atwiine Jude

The Elite games in Jinja had six teams vying for the girls’ football gold. The competition was very tight on paper considering the presence of reigning FEASSA Champions Kawempe Muslim SS and former National and FEASSA champions St. Noa who were widely regarded as favourites for this championship.

Isingiro-based Boni Consili Girls’ School traveled over 400 km to Jinja to prove a point in the 5th edition of this championship.

Meanwhile, under the stewardship of coach Hussein Saidi and his technical bench, Boni Consili capped off the championship by strongly upsetting St. Noa Girls SS in a game that was also witnessed by the Crested Cranes coach Sheryl Botes.

Boni Consili showed a great level of resilience, grip, and tenacity, especially in a game where they spent large spells in their half defending against the speedy and tricky attackers of St.Noa. In a game where Boni Consili struggled to create many goal-scoring opportunities, they had to be clinical enough in front of goal. Here the tournament’s revelation who later ended up as top scorer came to the table. Rina Ariho’s close tap-in was just enough to see off the game in their favor.

Rinah Ariho who is the tournament’s top scorer and arguably the MVP of the championship scored 8 goals in 6 games which is more than half of the team’s goals.
This shows how instrumental she was to the team’s success having only failed to score against Kawempe Muslim.

By the end of the championship, Boni Consili Girl’s School had scored an impressive 12 goals and conceded only on 4 occasions winning 4 of their 5 games as a result.

Boni Consili will feel undone but with plenty of positives to take from this year’s edition having finished as runners-up just one point behind Kawempe Muslim SS

Boni Consili walked away happily with silver. Their next target will be the Fresh Dairy Games 2024 which makes it an even better foundation for young girls.