Match Centre
On Easter Monday Kelvedon hosted University's Women's Championship squad as well as South Hobart's NPL squad, as our senior Pirates battled out their first round of games in the Women's Statewide Cup and the Lakoseljac Cup, respectively.
In the Women's Statewide Cup our senior Women's squad took on the reigning Southern Women's Championship title holders, University, who spent their 2021 season undefeated. An early University goal, scored just a few minutes into the match, could have had our Pirates shaking in their bootstraps, but the team managed to steady the ship and take control of the game. Holly-Lace Ayton, Eli Crop, and Zola Blackwood-Coyle all looked threatening near the goalmouth at times, but it was eventually Ayton who (in a position nowhere near the goalmouth) drew the score level with an incredible long-range strike in the 38th minute.
Early in the second half, Ayton's dominance and skill was put on display again when she received a lovely assist from Bella McGinn just inside the box, nipped around the keeper and slotted the ball away confidently to put us ahead. This confidence was short-lived however, with the Bees levelling the score just minutes later. Caity Riley, Kiri Bain, and Mia Fujiura worked well together in the midfield to create some more scoring opportunities, but it was ultimately Ayton who fed a terrific through ball to Cropp, who's calm and composed first touch chipped the keeper perfectly. The remainder of the game proved to be a tense and balanced competition, but our Pirate's win was sealed in the last minutes of extra time when Maddy Lane unleashed a powerful hit from halfway to reach super-sub Daisy Parsell in the box. Parsell's cheeky little volley around the keeper put her in front of an empty goal with the space and time to put the cherry on top of a delicious win.
In the opening round of the Lakoseljac Cup, our Men's Championship squad were eventually defeated by South Hobart. After a fairly even start to the game, which saw a couple of good saves by keeper, Isaac Scott, and some solid defensive work from Luke Warrener and Dominic Easton, the game took a turn for the worse at the 12 minute mark when a questionable slice of cheese was handed to Warrener for a slide tackle against a South Hobart forward. The free kick was headed home and put the opposition in the lead. Will Darling and Fergus Bridge linked up to create a couple of scoring opportunities, but ultimately our Pirates couldn't find the back of the net. After a truly valiant effort by our lads, the final score rested at 0-3 in favour of South Hobart.
Looking toward's this weekend's fixtures, we have our senior men's teams out at Clare Street on Saturday as they battle it out against the Newtown Eagles. Both the Men's Champ and Men's Champ 1 teams are in a similar position, if they can defeat their Newtown opposition this weekend, they'll be leapfrogging them on their ladder position. On Sunday, we have our Women's Champ 1 team taking on Metro FC over at North Chigwell, while our Women's Champ and WSL teams play at Kelvedon. Mid-week, our Under 18 lads will be taking on the ladder leaders, Clarence Zebras Black, over at Wentworth Park.
Best of luck to all our teams this weekend!
Upcoming Games:
SAT 23rd
12.30pm: Men's Championship 1 vs Newtown Eagles, Clare St
2.30pm: Men's Championship vs Newtown Eagles, Clare St
SUN 24th
12pm: Women's Championship vs Glenorchy Knights, Kelvedon
2.30pm: WSL vs Launceston United, Kelvedon
2.30pm: Women's Championship 1 vs Metro FC, North Chigwell
WED 27th
6.30pm: U18 Taroona FC Black vs Clarence Zebras Black