All roads led to Kybybolite for round 2 of the Limestone Coast Women’s Football Association Under 16 competition and it was the newcomers Hatherleigh which triumphed in the first match, defeating the Demons by 20 points.
This season’s early pace setters started the game with a bang with Hatherleigh captain kicking the opening goal.
Throughout the rest of the first quarter Hatherleigh used the full width of the ground and taller players such as Kalani Dunn and Edie Easterby to their advantage, resulting in many scoring shots.
Hatherleigh brought the same tempo in the second quarter the and continued to run.
The Eagles’ superior speed and ball sharing kept the Demons scoreless as they extended the lead to 26 points by half time.
South could not compete with Hatherleigh’s on-field talk and their run down the line.
However, Jarrah Altschwager was doing her best covering three players at times and still winning the ball.
However, it was a completely different story in the third quarter.
Hatherleigh had left all their run and aggression on the sidelines which allowed South to make a comeback, kicking 3.1 to 0.0 in the third and narrowing the margin to nine points.
South’s effort was led by their smart and silky forward liner Sophie Wright, and midfielder Ella Guest who would have easily given south over six inside 50s by herself.
Hatherleigh started to look fatigued, however one player who never stopped fighting was vice-captain, Hannah Bellinger.
She brought everything to the table and stopped many of South’s scoring opportunities.
South started the final term as they finished the third, with a quick scoring opportunity narrowing the margin by another point.
However, it was enough to shake Hatherleigh out of its slump, led by Sebella Coghlan.
Coghlan was hard and attacking and gave South no chance to get the ball out of Hatherleigh’s forward line.
In the end, Hatherleigh was able to break clear and win by 20 points.
Hannah Bellinger, Edie Easterby, Sebella Coghlan, Amber Chester, Lucy Crowe were the best for winning team.
South named Sophie Wright, Jarrah Altschwager, Ella Guest, and Bailey Broome in their best.
Kybybolite vs Kongorong
Kongorong started the game with a quick clearance from their captain Evie Sealey who bombed it inside 50 to a waiting cluster of players. Somehow the ball emerged from the pack, landing in the arms of well positioned Sealey which resulted in a goal.
This play continued to flow throughout the first quarter with both teams scoring well.
A perfectly executed torpedo from Chloe Stewart got Kybybolite’s game going with their first goal.
Not long after that Kybybolite’s Elise Hahn showed her magic, dancing around the defenders to also kick a goal.
The second quarter was a back-and-forth game with few scoring opportunities for either team.
Sealey continued her determined work, claiming many early possessions.
At the long break the Hawks held the lead by 13 points.
The third quarter it was mostly the same story with neither team able to score freely.
But towards the end of that quarter Kybybolite started to look fatigued as some more the Kongorong players stepped up such as Jasmin Mckinnon and Ruby Milch.
Kongorong also started to take the game on even more with most of the ball entering and exiting through the middle of the ground.
Kongorong started to get some momentum flowing in the final quarter, breaking the scoring deadlock to extend their lead to three goals.
This last quarter secured Kongorong’s win with Jasmin McKinnon, Sophie Longbottom, Becky Duivenvoorde, Ruby Milich, Lacey Hannaford, Lilly Gordon named in the better players.
The Kyby players appeared to run out of legs with not long left to go in the game.
A few hard workers continued to play their hearts out, including Alice McKenzie, Zara East, and Evie Mott.
Kybybolite’s best players were Chloe Stewart, Chloe Copping, Zara East, Evie Mott, Elise Hahn, Amelia Frick.
