Onslow JFC Girls
Shine at Upper Hutt Tournament
The potential and depth of female football at OJFC was on
show this past weekend as three of our teams entered into the inaugural Upper Hutt ‘Kick It’ tournament for girls.
The tournament is focused on developing girls aged between
10 and 14 and promoting a pathway for them by introducing many of the girls to
past Football Ferns, current NZ age group representatives, and members of the
Capital Football National Women’s Youth League (including Onslow’s own Megan
Robertson),recently crowned winners of that competition.
We had a team in each of the age grade competitions: Under
10s, 12s and 14s. Only Western Suburbs mustered more entries than us (one extra
in the U10s).
The tournament gave our girls (some playing for the first
time this season) the chance to mix and match it with our own RTC and FTC
players, as well as those of the other clubs who even had a few NTC players
within their ranks. And match up we did!
All three teams played positive, attractive football in
keeping with the Onslow Way;
building from the back, keeping the ball in play at every opportunity, tackling
to win the ball and keeping possession were all hallmarks of the teams in green
and red.
The U12s were the most successful of our three teams,
winning their grade, but both the U10s and U14s were very competitive in strong
competitions.
Individual team reports follow.
U10’s – Coach: Glenn
Tims
The U10s were a bit unfortunate in that like the All Whites
we were unbeaten in the 2 pool games but came third in their pool.
The first game was a 1-1 draw but 1-4 on corners count back (the method used to
decide a tie).
The 2nd game was a 0-0 draw and 2-2 on corners but I lost
the coin toss! But we did win the 5th/6th playoff game 1-0. Only a few of
the girls knew each other and some were very inexperienced players, so overall
I thought they did really well.
U12s – Coach: Des
Vincent-Dustow
The U12s were a very encouraging mix of FTC, RTC and GOSL
players all of whom could attack and defend, skills that proved very hard for
other teams to break down. Wins over Upper Hutt 3 – 0 and 5 – 0 meant our main
rival would be the similar strength Wests team who we had a running arm wrestle
with all day, losing 3 - 1 initially but then winning the reverse fixture 2 –
1.
The final was worthy of such a fixture. We came from 2 – 0
down at half time to be level at full time and, with no change to the score
after extra time, we went to penalties. In front of a watching tournament (as
the last game of the day) we kept our nerve to win 3 – 1. Goalkeeper Bess Evans
proved to be the match winner by saving three Wests penalties.
All the girls were superb on the day, but standouts were
Ella Vincent-Hyde who captained the team with maturity and Francesca Grange
who, with six goals, was one off claiming the golden boot for the division.
U14s – Coach: Bill
Robertson
The U-14s played some attractive and disciplined passing
football in their first three matches.
The first match was against a very talented Hutt
Valley team – comprising rep players
from several Hutt Valley clubs. Our Onslow girls prevailed in a very tough
match, winning 1-0. Our best match was
our second pool match, against Karori.
Our quick-passing midfield game was the key, and we put Karori away 3-0.
I and many others believed we were by far the better team in
our semi-final match against South Wairarapa. However, they caught us napping once and
scored against the run of play. Despite
Onslow’s domination and many close shaves, the ball would just no go in for us.
We met Hutt
Valley again in the 3rd/4th
place play-off. Our previous mammoth
efforts (combined with only one sub for the day) had taken its toll, and Hutt Valley
showed their class to beat us in a match we just couldn’t get a foothold in.
But the girls’ enjoyment, and the quality of much of their
play, made for a successful day.
Besides, Sarah Alder won golden boot for the division, and Jaime Milne
won a signed Football Ferms shirt!
