Match Report

Coach's Players of the Match: Olivia Collins, Kelsey McSweeny

Match Officials Player: Olivia Collins - Italo Stars 

A young and enthusiastic team showed up at Oakes Oval on Friday night to play the 2015 Callan McMillan Cup Open Womens B Grand Final. Some had been here earlier in 2013 for the U14 Girls Grand Final. There really is no finer place to play than under lights on a Friday Night at Oakes. Having beaten Byron Wildcats in round three of the normal season just recently, we still had a healthy respect for our opponent. 

The Byron women looked lean and mean (actually lovely), and had shorter shorts than us, which may be some new type of competitive edge. They were certainly fast as lightning. 

Just to be there for the Grand Final in their first year playing up as a women's team was exciting. What I wanted as their coach was for them to play their absolute best and to make themselves proud, no matter the outcome. 

Right out of the gate, the girls were on fire. Rachael Guest opened the account just sixty seconds into the game, after the ball had touched nearly every player on the Stars side, to finally chip the keeper from right wing and find the net. Spectators were gold! 

One of the great things about this team is that there is so much talent and the goal scoring would continue with regularity throughout the game. Amete Baume at nine minutes with a free kick from just inside the Byron half, that sailed over several players and caught the keeper out. Captain Olivia Collins would find the net with a great finish just minutes before half time, and Lily Evans at seventy four minutes would almost seal the deal, with one final goal by Cara Brice who took on the keeper and pulled her off the line before tapping the ball past to complete a solid win.

Byron would also beat the dynamic and inspiring Kelsey "Solo" McSweeny twice over the course of the night, and were never far from bringing the game back into contention, despite the score making it seem otherwise. Solo would touch the ball over thirty times during the match, many of them critical saves that would otherwise have seen the game take a completely different direction. From valiantly coming off her line at just the right moment to sliding into harms way to make foot saves Kelsey did it all and was a hero in the stands and to her team. 

In the backs Riley McIntyre would once again take command centrally to lead Holly Doyle and Erin Blaylock in cutting off a barrage of attacking runs by the Wildcats number Nine, Thirteen and Six. The girls have never had to deal with so many fast forwards. Olivia Riley and Lily Evans provided crucial stopping power in the role of defensive midfield allowing the back three time to position. 

Midfielders Amete Baume and Kendelle O'Reilly were instrumental in holding our shape together. Having not seen Kendelle in the previous game we felt she was something of a secret weapon in right midfield where she showed some ferocity of her own in taking on and beating Wildcats wings time and again, whilst also making some great placements to our forwards, and covering where required in back. Amete was her normal self, which is to say strong on the ball, great with corners and free kicks, and always pressuring up. 

But the star of the night, as chosen by her coach and by match officials would be Olivia Collins, the persistent, agile and energetic attacking midfielder was in almost every photo and frame of video as she zipped around the field harrassing and stripping the ball from much larger players repeatedly. From the opening moments where her assist would lead to Rachael's goal to her own stellar goal and right up until she had played the full ninety minutes Olivia was the heart of the team and very deserving to wear the Captains armband... although we haven't found one small enough to fit her actually. 

Rachael Guest had sat on the lounge watching a replay of the previous game vs Byron prior to arriving at Oakes Oval and has never been more focused in a game then she was on Friday night. The opening goal so early in the match, definitely shocked the Wildcats and gave the girls a much needed psycholgical edge. Cara Brice would struggle all night to push past Wildcats two central backs, who were stronger and faster, but fancy footwork nearly found a goal in the first half before the final minutes of the match rewarded her consistent attacks. Instead, interceptions, keeping two to three Wildcats on her to make space for other Stars, and holding the ball forward would be her contribution for most of the game. Lucie Mills, the baby of the team at just fourteen, played left wing and used her effortless take on moves to somehow beat much older and more experienced players along the line. 

New members of the team Cassie Wilcox, Sacha Walker and Ruby Gould-Whaley (freshly recovered from a leg injury)  also took the field and did themselves proud. And lastly young Jodi Morris, who kindly volunteered to help us out in the preliminary rounds of McMillan Cup also played and showed why she will undoubtedly be one of the stars of her U15 girls team this season!

All in all a magical night for Italo Stars FC, and a sign of a very strong season to come. 

Goals: 1' Rachael Guest, 9' Amete Baume, 43' Olivia Collins, 74' Lily Evans, 87' Cara Brice 

Team: (GK) Kelsey McSweeney, Riley McIntyre, Holly Doyle, Sacha Walker, Olivia Riley, Amete Baume, Olivia Collins, Kendelle O'Reilly, Rachael Guest, Lily Evans, Cara Brice, Erin Blaylock, Lucie Mills, Jodi Morris, Cassie Wilcox. (Absent: Megan McGuiness)

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