The new kids on the block in the 2021 Limestone Coast Football Association Steeline Senior Women’s Premiership Cup had their moment in the sun on Sunday.

Although International and Blue Lake United tasted victory in round 9, Naracoorte United stole the headlines.

After assembling a women’s team from scratch over the summer, many players kicked the round ball for the first time in the opening round.

Naracoorte suffered a 16-0 defeat to Inter in its Steeline Cup debut, but bounced back strong with an uplifting effort against Apollo the following week.

The newbies slowly adapted to life in the LCFA as each week went by, but a maiden goal in the Premiership Cup proved elusive.

However, at the seventh time of asking, Naracoorte broke through when Ashlae Pilven applied just enough power in her kick for the ball to roll over the goal line on Sunday.

The goal instantly became the most celebrated of the season as not only had Naracoorte finally hit the scoreboard, but it also ensured the side avoided defeat for the first time in the premiership cup.

Club president and women’s coach Jon Thurlow said the 1-1 draw against Millicent felt like a victory as the home crowd went berserk.

“We celebrated the first goal pretty much like we had won the game because we came back in the last couple of minutes to score a draw,” he said.

“The girls were just super excited.”

After Millicent easily knocked over Naracoorte 3-0 back in round 4, few would not have backed the latter to go back-to-back.

But the yellow and black girls proved they were up for the fight on home turf and an arm wrestle for possession occurred.

Both teams enjoyed passages on top and threatened to score.

However, neither could find the back of the net before half time.

Thurlow said the wind played a big role in proceedings as his entire formation took the fight to Millicent.

“It was quite a windy day and we started with the tailwind, so we pushed pretty hard,” he said.

“It was very tight and we probably should have scored a goal in the first half, but that did not eventuate.

“I was a bit worried because we had to turn and go into the wind, but our goalkeeper played well to stop a couple of their shots and the strong defence played their best game of the year.”

Although Letitia Izzo gave Millicent the lead, Thurlow did not give up hope as his team continued to chip away until Pilven produced the magic moment.

“I was telling the girls the goal is going to come, you just have to keep attacking and stay positive,” he said.

“She went one on one with the keeper and the ball spilled out after the goalie pulled off a tackle.

“So Ashelah was lying on the ground and swung her leg at the ball and we were yelling ‘get up and kick it’.

“But the ball just trickled into the corner of the goals.”

With only minutes left on the clock until half time, it was a huge sigh of relief for Thurlow, who has been instrumental in the development of Naracoorte’s women’s team.

For years he had been thinking about starting a women’s team with a couple of female players related to men’s side sprinkled across the club.

Thurlow said the team has been years in the making with the club recently developing a second pitch to make it possible, while the new-look side has come a long way since round 1 and some juniors even won selection in regional Under 14 and 16 teams at the representative level.

“We thought if we are going to do it (start a women’s team) we had to develop another pitch and build better change rooms,” he said.

“Last year at our multicultural carnival I put it out there we will have a women’s team and we received strong interest.

“But some players did not even know the rules at the start of the season, so the progress has been huge.”

With a goal and a draw under the team’s belt, Thurlow is bullish of what his team can achieve in the final two rounds of the season.

Naracoorte meets Apollo this Sunday afternoon and the coach hopes last weekend’s injection of confidence can push the girls to even bigger things.

“We were super excited and want to carry that into this weekend and get a win,” Thurlow said.

“I am pretty confident we can get the win against Apollo and then finish the season off with Inter and Centrals where we could get at least one result.

“The girls just want to train so much, but sadly I just do not have the time.”

Elsewhere, Blue Lake United maintained its perfect record despite a brief scare from Apollo.

The first half went as expected when the ladder leaders strike twice, but the blue and white hit back after the break.

An own goal, plus a clean strike from Amber Pellas were Apollo’s scoring avenues.

Eventually, the class of Blue Lake United shone through to record a 4-2 win with Annaleise Canala the hero with two goals.

International and Gambier Centrals also wrestled for second spot on the ladder at Blue Lake Sports Park on Saturday.

After an initial scrap early and a pause for an injured referee, Ella Doody, April Hockey and Stephanie Gilbert stepped up to hand Inter a 3-0 win.