Last week the Junior Girls Football team finished their season with an exciting play-off for 3rd place against their neighbours, Mission Heights Junior College. On a windswept field at Mission Heights they started favourites against a team they had convincingly beaten earlier in the season.
Mission Heights started off strongly, creating several chances and putting pressure on the Sancta Maria defence. Eventually the pressure told, with Mission Heights being awarded a penalty. Jamie Currie was very calm in goal, pulling off a great save to keep the score locked at 0-0.
Then, late in the first half, after creating a lot of chances, Mikaela Bangalan took a long-distance shot that beat the defenders and the out-stretched hands of the keeper; 1-0 to SMC.
In the second half, Holly McCarthy beat the offside trap down the right wing and shot low to the left hand of the keeper giving SMC a 2-0 lead. Mission Heights then built up some good pressure and got on the scoreboard with a well-taken goal to set the game up for an exciting final 15 minutes. Jade Coldicutt-Trotter played in goal in the second half and was called upon to make some good saves to keep her team ahead. SMC put everything into their defence and were able to hold on for a well-deserved 2-1 win and 3rd place overall.
The coach, Stacey McCarthy, was very pleased with the result but even more pleased with the progress all the players had made throughout the season. There was always a good turnout at the trainings and that was reflected in the way they came together as a team after being thrown together at the beginning of the year. Several players had not played before and it was
hard to tell who they were by the end of the season. The Year 7 and 8 players fitted in well with the older players and they had to really step up each week when most of the opposition teams were all Year 9s and 10s.
In the end, the team played nine games with four wins and five losses, scoring 25 goals and conceding 42. The main highlights included a big 9-2 win over Macleans College, with Tayla Spence scoring seven of the goals, and a big 8-3 win over Mission Heights. The future looks bright for next year when nearly all the players will be eligible to play in the same team again.
