OVER the King’s Birthday long weekend 69 players from across the Gippsland Soccer League made the eight-hour journey up to Mildura to represent the league at the annual CFLA Country Championships. Across the three days over 200 games are played as representative teams from rural leagues across the state play each other across several age groups.
This year the GSL proudly fielded teams in the U12 Boys, U14 Girls, U15 Boys, U18 Boys and for the first time in league history; U18 Girls age groups.
Facing tough competition from larger regional leagues, the GSL teams played well. Some notable match moments include:
U12 Boys – A final match against local team Sunraysia proved a nail biter as Drouin’s Jonah Bennet scored a lovely goal in the first half and converted a penalty in the second half to finish a draw. Goalkeeper Henry Kennedy pulled off some incredible saves.
U14 Girls – In their first match played in thick fog, the U14 Girls took on neighbouring league LVSL with Wonthaggi’s Aurora Laing making some critical saves and despite some excellent attacking play from Phillip Island’s Edith Rowbottom the game finished a draw.
U15 Boys – In their second match up against Sunraysia (the favoured team to win) the U15 Boys came back from 3-1 to 3-3 during the game. Goalkeeper Mirboo North’s Raiden Knabe’s reflexes paired with centre back and captain Lincoln Newton proved critical in denying a strong lead to the home team. Whilst their opponent eventually took the win, the GSL team can be proud of their strong work ethic.
U18 Boys – Despite several injuries and general fatigue, the GSL U18s played their best game of the tournament against South-West Victoria in their last fixture. Converting an early penalty, the Gippsland team took the lead and continued to pepper their opponent’s defence. Leongatha’s Lincoln Hamilton, who had an exceptional tournament performance in goals, along with strong centre back Drouin’s Thomas Lilford, were critical in denying South-West’s speedy forward. A beautiful finish by Leongatha’s Oscar Murdoch saw the teams equalise 2-2 but a late goal to the opposition saw them take the win.
U18 Girls – In their final match against neighbours LVSL, the Gippsland girls pulled out all the stops. Despite conceding an unfortunate early goal, a beautiful goal from GSL forward Lisse Bath sent cheers through the crowd. The defence worked hard against a strong, composed opponent. Despite the game ending 3-1 to their opponents, the first time GSL side proved themselves to be competitors to look out for at further tournaments.
The Gippsland Soccer League would like to thank all the players for their dedication to extra training sessions leading up to the championships, to their parents for their support and the coaches who volunteered their time and skills to enable this opportunity for our players.
