Papua New Guinea scored a last-minute free kick to beat New Caledonia 2-1 today and advance to the final of the 2016 OFC U-17 Women's Championship in Rarotonga.
The late goal at extra time was scored by Robertlynn Kig who also scored PNG’s first goal.
PNG was the first to score when Kig floated home a free kick into the top corner of the goal and found the net four minutes into the game.
New Caledonia struggled to escape PNG’s defensive half but couldn’t get past the strong backline as they attempted to score on several occasions.
Our girls pushed through the first half to hold a 1-0 lead over New Caledonia at halftime.
New Caledonia almost equalised off a corner four minutes into the second half but the header was saved by PNG goalkeeper Faith Kasiray.
New Caledonia took the chance after being awarded a penalty 84 minutes into the game to equalise the score 1-1 slotted into the net by Jackie Pahoa.
The pressure was on as both teams needed to score to win. At fulltime, the score was locked at 1-1, which forced the game into extra time.
PNG took out victory after Robertlynn Kig blasted home the free kick off the crossbar and PNG took the lead 2-1 at three minutes into extra time.
PNG will take on New Zealand in the grand final this Saturday following the Kiwi’s win over Fiji 11-0 in the first match today.
The winner will have direct qualification to the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup at Jordan from 30 September to 21 October.