DURHAM – Former Duke women's soccer teammates Kayla (McCoy) McKenna and Quinn will face off on the pitch this week as Jamaica and Canada meet in a home and away playoff series for the 2024 Olympic Games qualifying.
McKenna will represent Jamaica, while Quinn takes the field for Canada starting off in Jamaica on Sept. 22 at Kingston's National Stadium. The second match is slated for Sept. 26 at BMO Field in Toronto, Canada.
The winner of the two-game series advances to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. The winner will also punch a direct ticket to the inaugural CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup, which takes place in the United States from February 17 through March 10, 2024, while the non-advancing team will drop into a Women's Gold Cup Qualifying Group A, which includes Panama and Guatemala. The three teams will play home and away starting October 25.
The 2024 Concacaf Women's Gold Cup qualifying schedule is Panama vs. Jamaica/Canada on Oct. 25, Canada/Jamaica vs. Guatemala on Oct. 29, Canada/Jamaica vs. Panama on Nov. 29 and Guatemala vs. Canada/Jamaica on Dec. 3.
The winner of this three-team group would advance to the Women's Gold Cup Group stage, alongside two other Group A winners. The second-place finishers in these three Group A will join three Group B winners in the Women's Gold Cup preliminaries to kick off the competition.
Both McKenna and Quinn represented their home countries recently for the Women's World Cup. McKenna and the Jamaica squad advanced to the knockout stage, before falling, 1-0, to Colombia. Canada totaled a 1-1-1 ledger and did not advance past the group stage.
The duo played together at Duke from 2015-17 and helped lead the Blue Devils to 52 wins and a pair of NCAA College Cup appearances. They also led Duke to a perfect 10-0 ledger in ACC action and capturing the Blue Devils first ACC regular season crown in 2017.
Toni Payne, a 2017 Duke graduate, has also been invited to represent Nigeria in the first round of qualifiers for the 2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations. Nigeria hosts Sao Tome at Mobolaji Johnson Stadium on Sept. 22 and will play again Sept. 26. Payne and the Nigeria squad recently advanced to the knockout stage at the Women's World Cup, before exiting in the round of 16.
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