ZAMBIA begun the 2020 Cosafa women championship on a high, thrashing Lesotho 8-0 in a group B match at the Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Copper Queens captain Barbra Banda and Grace Chanda scored a hat-trick and a brace respectively while young Meylan Mulenga, Prisca Chilufya and Ireen Lungu contributed a goal apiece for the Bruce Mwape- drilled girls to triumph.
Banda, who is on the books of Chinese outfit Shanghai Shengli broke the deadlock on the half hour mark to give Zambia the lead in the first half.
The former Bauleni United and Green Buffaloes striker then doubled the Coper Queens advantage seven minutes into the second half before Prisca Chilufya made it 3-0 in the 57th minute.
Young Maylan Mulenga scored her first goal at senior level when she scored Zambia’s fourth in the 65th minute.
Indeni striker and Olympic qualifiers top scorer, Grace Chanda scored a brace in the 67th and 76th minute to give Zambia a 5-0 lead before Banda who was voted player of the match completed her hat trick.
Midfielder, Ireen Lungu added her name on the score sheet six minutes before the final whistle to give the Copper Queens an inspiring win after starting the game on a shaky not with only one goal in the first half.
After humbling Lesotho in the first game the Copper Queens will end the group stage with a tricky tie against Malawi on November 9 at the Wolfson Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Zambia Under-17 girls’ team kicked off their campaign at the COSAFA U-17 women championship with a win over the host’s South Africa.
Taonga Chulu and Cindy Banda secured Zambia’s win as the young Copper Queens came from behind to beat the home team 2-1.
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