Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Defending champions Barbican defeated Harbour View 2-0 in their first leg semi-final of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF)/Sherwin Williams Women's League match at the Barbican field yesterday.

The other semi-final game between Waterhouse and Portmore Strikers was abandoned eight minutes into the second half because of heavy rain, with the teams locked at 0-0.

Jannie Dennis (63rd) and Trudi Mills (84th) scored the goals for Barbican, who are seeking their fourth hold on the trophy.

Dennis gave Barbican the lead when she fired home a point-blank shot past the Harbour View custodian Peatria Campbell. Mills doubled her team's lead when she slammed a powerful 20-yard shot past Campbell at her near post.

Barbican flair

"I think it was a workmanlike victory for us because we did not play with our usual Barbican flair, which is knocking the ball around and attacking relentlessly," said Charles Edwards, coach of Barbican.

"We didn't allow Harbour View to settle and to get into their strides and at the end it paid great dividends for us because we were able to dominate the match," Edwards said.

Edwards added that they would be going all out in their return game next Saturday.

"We are not going to take them lightly because we will be preparing for them to come with a better game plan on Saturday," Edwards said.

Vin Blaine, coach of Harbour View, said: "I think is was a creditable performance from us based on the team that we have, because we lost a number of players during the season.

"I think it is going to be very hard for us to get back into the tie because we were hoping to come away with a draw from this game," Blaine added.