Bermuda narrowly missed out on reaching the second division semi-finals at the Concacaf Girls Under-15 Championships in Tampa, Florida, today.

Don Vickers’s team edged Belize 1-0 in their final League B group C match at the Hillsborough County Tournament Sportsplex, with Evans Welch scoring the game winner.

However, it was not enough to see them through to the semi-finals, having been pipped by Honduras for the final spot in the last four on goal difference.

“We were very close to going through,” Vickers, the Bermuda coach, told The Royal Gazette. “We finished second in our group but we weren’t the best second-placed team overall in League B.

“Honduras were the top second-placed team; they beat us by goal difference to go through. We finished with the same amount of points as them but they got through by goal difference so we were close.”

Bermuda squandered a host of chances today, which ultimately came back to haunt them.

“It was a dominating performance,” Vickers added. “We looked to be aggressive; played through all the thirds from building the ball up through the back through the middle third to finish playing in the attacking third. It just took us a while to figure how to score.

“Nonetheless we got it at the end, so it was definitely a result we earned. But we probably should have had more than one goal.”

Unbeaten Martinique, who did not concede a goal during the group stage, topped group C to secure their spot in the League B semi-finals along with Honduras, Aruba and Nicaragua.

Honduras will face Nicaragua in an all-Central American affair, while Martinique will do battle with Aruba in the last four of the competition tomorrow.

Those teams that do not advance to the knockout stage will play an additional match to determine final placement to ensure every team have a minimum of four matches.

Bermuda will look to sign off on a winning note when they play Cayman Islands tomorrow.

“I am confident and we are looking to impose ourselves,” Vickers said. “We are looking to impose our style of game on the Caymans and continue to identify players to go on and represent Bermuda at the under-17 and under-20 level, ultimately making it to the women’s national team.

“That’s our goal for this tournament. Yes, have some success, but also to develop them to the next level. For me on a whole, we met our targets from a developmental standpoint.

“It’s a special group and we should continue to develop them and give them opportunities to be exposed to a higher level of competition.”