All the parents knew that last week’s goal would be a hard act to follow but no one could have imagined what a memorable day the 4th of May would turn out to be….

An early start of 8-30am at The Ridge didn’t deter the faithful team - we even had 2 reserves!  We were told the sad news about Sarah’s dad and Justin gave each player a black armband in memory of Steve.

Right from the first whistle, Bangor quickly realised that this would be no walkover. This was further instilled when Katinka kicked an early shot at the goal which the goalie easily collected and confidently kicked back upfield where Jade bravely stopped it with her body.  Naomi, Sandy and Katinka  were all bunched up and Justin bellowed out to them to spread out but it was too late – Bangor took advantage and sped all the way to our goal where Brooke made a dramatic dive to save a certain goal – much to the delight of the excited parents on the sideline, even Jollie and Angel were shouting their support.

After this initial excitement, both teams settled down and the first to make a break was Naomi and Sarah who showed great ball skills in gaining valuable ground and passing the ball to the forwards.  There was a new “team spirit” and everyone was giving their all.  Josephine was running faster,  Sally was back to her determined self - despite her toe injury of last week.  Jessica’s defense was excellent and Emelia showed some good marking up on player skills.

The big moment came when Sarah hoofed a massive kick right over the opposition straight to Katinka who effortlessly beat the defense and blasted a goal straight past the shocked goalie.   For once the parent supporters were shouting louder than Justin !! 

Bundeena decided that the best form of defense was to attack and Jade started the next movement where she dribbled past 2 defenders and passed the ball to Brea Wicker who in turn fed it through to Breanna and she almost scored a 2nd goal – Bundeena was hot !!

With all the action in the Bangor’s half our girls in defense were getting bored and dared to chat but a loud “We are not here for a chin-wag” from Justin shut them up and kept them on their toes again.

During half-time the Bangor coach obviously gave his team a massive a pep-talk as they came back with greater motivation and vengeance.   They mounted attack after attack but Bundeena somehow managed to keep the ball out of goal.  Jess made an absolutely brilliant save from a whopper kick right in front of the goal but fluffed her clearance kick which rolled along the ground to the Bangor forwards.  Once again Bundeena managed to keep it out of goal but the pressure was mounting – Naomi was giving her usual 110% and in the process hurt her foot and had to be carried off.  Erin took her place and really went for it -  going for the ball at every opportunity.   Towards the end of the match, Sandy threw a fantastic 20 meter throw-in from the side which put us back onto the attack and had Bangor very worried for a moment. 

When the final whistle blew we all knew that something very special had happened that day. Sarah summed it up with a heart-felt “This one’s for you Steve” which left us all with a tear in the eye but a happy heart.

Man of the match – Katinka

Achievement award - Sarah

Encouragement award – Brooke