Sport
1 November, 2024
South West shines in Shepparton
PLAYERS from the South West Victorian Football Association headed to Shepparton last weekend for Australia’s largest junior football tournament.
The Shepparton Cup attracted more than 350 teams to the town, with south west competing in the under 11, under 12 and under 15 boys’ divisions.
The sides competed against NPL, metro and state league teams, along with representatives from Tasmanian and Melbourne academies, and visiting teams from New Zealand.
South West performed competitively across the weekend, with all three teams improving as the tournament progressed.
The under 12s, newly coached by Janis Vingrys and Ross Levett, achieved two draws against NPL (Goulburn Valley Suns) and metro (Fawkner) and two losses in a tough group which included overall Cup winner, 12th Player Academy, and a side from Tasmania.
The under 15s, coached by Rodney Perry, played in a group that included both state and academy teams.
While they accrued three initial losses, they persevered in spite of an injury-riddled bench to achieve one draw (2-2) for the tournament against SAS Futbol on the Sunday.
South West’s newest under 11 representative team, coached by Benjy Hawkins and Aaron Francis, progressed through to the Liga Plate grand final.
They previously finished third in their group before going on to win both their quarter and semi finals.
The under 11s, who had played just one match together prior to the tournament, enjoyed their first 3-2 victory in Friday night’s opening match against NPL side, Goulburn Valley Suns.
They then faced two tough metro opponents, losing 0-2 to Fawkner and 1-3 to Newport on Saturday.
They finished third in their group of four.
On Sunday they won their elimination quarter-final 1-0 against metro team, Caroline Springs George Cross, and then progressed to the semi-final where they defeated home side Shepparton 1-0.
“As a newly formed squad, this under 11 team is incredible,” SWVFA secretary and representative football player coordinator Melissa Condo said.
“They left absolutely everything out on the pitch in the grand final against Dandenong City.
“To go from literally playing their first match together as a team the previous weekend to putting together a tournament campaign and finishing in a grand final is beyond inspiring.”
Ms Condo described the team’s grand final performance as a rollercoaster.
“With less than two minutes to go, Declan Membery delivered an impeccable corner kick into the box,” she said.
“Steff Van Den Heuvel deflected the ball back out to a waiting Finn Dwyer, who fired a rocket at the goals and found the back of the net.”
This sent the team to its first ever penalty shootout.
“South West goalkeeper Dexter Coburn’s composure under pressure was surpassed only by the Dandenong City goalkeeper who saved two attempts to south west’s single.”
The final score saw Dandenong City take the win, 4-3.
“We look forward to a full tournament calendar next year for our rep squads, as well as some gala days against South Australia, Melbourne and other regional sides,” Ms Condo said.
“It’s so encouraging to see the caliber of our young players and to be able to offer them the chance to compete and keep playing football even once the standard season is over.”
