Sarah Jere, a Copper Queens rookie, scored twice in what pundits deemed to be a strong performance from her at the regional tournament.

Zambia, the defending regional champions, needed to win in order to have a shot at moving on to the championship’s second round. And the team made easy work of Angola winning by 3-1 to go top of their group.

The convincing victory comes after a nil-all draw against Mozambique on their opening matchday of the regional tournament.

The technical bench, headed by seasoned Bruce Mwape, assembled a team mostly made up of young, talented players, and they have not disappointed, winning one match and drawing the other in their first two appearances.

The defending champions announced their intentions just after two minutes when Sarah Jere scored the Copper Queen’s first goal at the tournament.

Eneless Phiri connected with Jackline Nkole, who scored what might be the goal of the competition for the Copper Queens, who were unstoppable, to make it 2-0 soon after the 20th minute.

In the first 15 minutes of the second half, Angola managed their defense to prevent the Copper Queens from scoring. It wasn’t until the 85th minute that Evarine Katongo beat the Angolan defender with a deft pass into Sarah Jere’s path to complete her brace.

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Angola then reduced the deficit four minutes into the additional time after a long-range effort from Sara Luvunga.