Thirty minutes before First Grades kick off, Universities Division 2 Women’s had played into Penalty Shootouts of their preliminary final, having claimed a win, it was First Grades time to back it up.

After a thrilling Sunday Preliminary final between Woonona and University at Ian McLennan Park, the bout concluded with a University comeback leaving Woonona in surprise. It was a promising start for Woonona by Elyse Mcnally early in the match, however Uni cleaned up the park by the end of the 90 minutes scoring a following 3 goals, courtesy of Jaimie Bailey, Elise Battin and Kate Sebben, to claim the win and head into the Grand Final next week against Albion Park.

Woonona looked the better side in the opening moments of the match, working their way up the field and placing Uni defenders under pressure. By the 11^th minute, Elyse Mcnally received the ball of a breakaway play at the corner of the 18-yard box, pulling off a spectacular first time longshot curling past the reach of Hannah Farrugia into the back of the net, to give Woonona the lead 1-0.

In the 20^th minute, Uni worked their way for a brilliant goal. After almost securing a powerful header from a corner, it was cleared just on the line by Woonona, however not enough, as Kate Sebben was able to pull off off a terrific strike beating the reach of Samantha Clark, levelling the game for Uni 1 -1.

The comeback had begun for Uni, as they started to dominate the play and hold possession over Woonona. Chantal Page was given a decent chance in the 26^th minute after a leading play found her in on goal, however she was not able to place a foot on it before Woonona’s defence was able to clear it back into play.

Uni started creating various chances before halftime, Pimwdee Polhill turned Woonona’s defenders inside out in the 35^th minute, unfortunately sending the ball at Woonona’s keeper Samantha Clark with just not enough power. Sebben almost pulled off a spectacular free kick moments later from just outside the 18-yard box well struck, toppling just over the crossbar for a goal kick.

Uni’s luck was fixed moments before halftime after Bailey cut the ball into Battin’s feet at the top of the 18-yard box, sending a first-time strike into the right corner of Clark’s goal, placing Uni in the lead just before the halftime break.

Uni’s second half was even more impressive, they found themselves with plenty of space and time on the ball, stringing together passes in the midfield and countless runs in on goal. Georgina McDonnell stuck a powerful longshot from outside the box to be fumbled by Clark for Bailey to regather and send into the back of the net, placing Uni in a more comfortable lead 3-1.

Uni continued to dominate possession, although Woonona kept up their competition, countering and placing Uni’s defence under pressure. Battin found the ball off a bouncing clearance in front of goal but couldn’t manage to send a well-placed ball past Clark as she comfortably caught it in front of the goal line.

Jordan Wheatley juggled magnificently over Uni’s defence in the 80^th minute cutting it across goal for Shannon Peters to send a shot on goal, to be saved by Farrugia in the last second. Uni held out the remaining minutes of the match to claim the win over Woonona, they will head into the Grand Final next week at Ian McLennan Park facing off their top of the table rivals Albion Park.

Sunday 1^st September @Ian McLennan Park, Kembla Grange

 

Team Line-ups:

University FC – Jamie BAILEY, Elise BATTIN, Rhianna BROWN, Lexi CARTER, Cayla CONSTABLE, Jinneecka KLENKA, Gerogina MCDONNELL, Chantal PAGE, Pimwdee POLHILL, Liza PRIOR, Jordan REAN, Kate SEBBEN, Tallara SHAW, Lisa TOLSON, Hannah FARRUGIA

 

Woonona – Sinead BAILEY, Samantha CLARK, Kelsey CLEMENTS, Kayla DRAPER, Ainsley HAWES, Le-Tisha KABLE, Georgia LANG, Fiona LEAFE, Bonnie MACDONNELL, Elyse MCNALLY, Jasmine PEARCE, Shannon PETERS, Morgan POTTER, Jordan WHEATLEY, Shenae GIRALDI, Melissa SALE

 

Report by Tim Dixon, on Twitter @tim_dixon_

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