The Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve (EHRR) again played host to the Girls Country Championships over the weekend for the third time in four years.

The Girls Country Championships bring together the best young female soccer players from across regional Victoria.

Bendigo entered teams in the Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 competitions, and played against teams from Albury/Wodonga, Ballarat, Geelong, Gippsland and Shepparton.

The Under 16 team coached by Tony Trimboli played excellent team soccer all weekend eventually going down 2-1 to Albury/Wodonga in the Final.

The team was made up of a number of Bendigo Amateur Soccer League (BASL) Women’s Division players and used all of their experience to progress to the Final.

The Under 14 side coached by Jo Hill had to play an additional qualifying match before the final after the second and third placed teams finished on equal points and goal difference after the round robin matches.

The Bendigo team played their best match of the weekend to defeat Gippsland 1-nil in the qualifier, but the extra match had an effect on the girls in the final and as they were no match for an excellent Albury/Wodonga team going down 6-1 to the Border town team.

For many in the Under 12 team, the competition was their first experience at playing on a full size pitch and at representative level.

The girls were well coached by Louise McColl and Holly Hays and improved as the weekend progresses leaving their best performance for the last, going down to Shepparton in a tight match 1-nil. With the majority of the team eligible for the Under 12 team again in 2015 and 2016, the girls benefited greatly from the experience.

All players involved represented Bendigo with pride and to have two out of the three teams make the final was a great achievement by all Players, Coaches, Team Managers and Parents involved.

Please find below all the results from the  2014 Girls Country Championships;

 

Under 12

Geelong 6 defeated Bendigo 0

Gippsland 2 defeated Bendigo 0

Ballarat 3 defeated Bendigo 0

Albury/Wodonga 6 defeated Bendigo 0

Shepparton 1 defeated Bendigo 0

 

Grand Final:

Albury/Wodonga 2 defeated Ballarat 0

 

Under 14

Bendigo 3 defeated Geelong 1

Gippsland 2 defeated Bendigo 1

Albury/Wodonga 4 defeated Bendigo 1

Bendigo 2 defeated Shepparton 1

 

Final Qualifier:

Bendigo 1 defeated Gippsland 0

 

Grand Final:

Albury/Wodonga 7 defeated Bendigo 1

 

Under 16

Bendigo 1 defeated Geelong 0

Bendigo 3 defeated Gippsland 0

Bendigo 6 defeated Ballarat 0

Albury/Wodonga 4 defeated Bendigo 1

Bendigo 4 defeated Shepparton 1

 

Grand Final:

Albury/Wodonga 2 defeated Bendigo 1

 

BASL would like to thank its major supporters of the BASL Junior Competition and Junior Representative Teams, Bendigo Bank, Sports Power Bendigo, Brewhouse Coffee Roasters and Embroiderall.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For more information contact BASL Operations Manager, Brock Rogers on info@basl.com.au or 0418 982 851.