14 GIRLS (LOST 0-4) | TRIAL GAME

The girls had a bye this weekend and challenged themselves by travelling up to Kareela oval in the Sutherland Shire to face a strong Sutherland side.

The game started in an open, end to end fashion with both sides creating chances on goal.
As the half progressed, Sutherland began to take control the game holding possession and dictating the tempo of play. The pressure soon told as Sutherland broke down the right hand side and executed a low cross with precision for our oppositions striker to finish.
They went on to score another before the half with a long range effort finding the back of the net.

The second half was much more evenly contested. The Flame girls adjusted to the game plan and denied Sutherland of the space they had been finding so easily in the first half. This led to the South Coast girls winning possession high up the field and creating chances of their own on multiple occasions. Despite the second half improvements, a deflection found the way into the back of the Flame net midway into the half and moments before the final whistle, an individual run from the opposition left winger resulted in a cut back being finished for 4.

Overall, the friendly was a great learning opportunity for the girls and the improvements made in the second half should give the players confidence that as a team we are able to learn from mistakes and improve.

Player of the Week: Chelsea Newell

Chelsea was challenged with adapting to a different style of play during our friendly with Sutherland Shire. She did everything that was asked of her and began to problem solve independently. Her impressive display earnt her a chance to play with the older age groups on Sunday.

15 GIRLS (WON 12-0)

Flame continued their unbeaten start to the season as they eased their way past a struggling Dunbar Rovers squad at Ian McLennan Park.

South Coast started with some panic finishing and poor decision making which saw a number of chances soar over the cross bar in a frustrating opening 10 minutes. However, the girls soon found some composure in front of goal and the ball began to hit the net.
Some calm finishing from Caitlin Russell and Bethany Horton had them a goal apiece, whilst Lauren Brooks had netted a hat-trick by the half time break.

Similar scenes re-commenced in the second half with Flame keeping possession and finding through balls to break the Dunbar Defence.
Bethany Horton got her second of the game and soon after, Caitlin Russell secured her hat-trick. The star of the show, however, was Lauren Brooks who was being gifted opportunities by her teammates and lethal in front of goal, scoring another four in the second half to take her game total to 7 goals.

South Coast winning 12-0 in a solid performance where each player carried out their attacking and defensive duties and stayed focused on the team task.

A mention must go out to Dunbar Rovers as they did not stop fighting until the final whistle. Their courageous goalkeeper put her body on the line the whole game and made a dozen fantastic 1 on 1 and diving saves throughout the match.

Player of the Week: Lauren Brooks

The progress Lauren has made this year has been fantastic to watch. She absorbs feedback at training and is continually refining her core skills. Lauren’s positioning in the final third and acceleration in a 1v1 situation was devastating against Dunbar Rovers as she scored 7 goals, taking her total to 11 goals already this season.

17 GIRLS (WON 7-0)

In what was a lopsided encounter, it was evident that the girls were in control of the match early on and we raced out of the blocks with two quick goals.
Our ability to control possession and create chances has not always reflected on the scoreboard to the degree that it did during this game, so it was pleasing to see our efficiency in front of goal improve.
We retained our focus in the second half and continued to play progressive football despite the score line blowing out in the latter stages.
Special mention to Brooke Love and Emily Franklin who both scored braces as a reward for strong performances. Both went extremely close to getting hat tricks, but it wasn’t to be.

Player of the Week: Emily Franklin

Emily has been a big improver over the course of this interrupted season, and since the re-start has consistently been among our best players.
Emily is always dangerous going forward due to her speed, but her intelligent movement off the ball and tireless work defensively rounded off a complete performance yesterday.