The 2017 Women’s Squad comprised of the W League, and Premier League teams have been preparing for the season for the last 9 weeks with an impressive number of young players coming through from the junior grades and Under 18 league to join the wider group.
The W League team started their campaign with the match of the round away to Palmerston North Marist. Although we had comfortably beaten this team in a pre-season friendly, Marist are a strong side whom are tough to beat at home. Despite this, we had probably the best start in recent memory scoring twice in the first 20 mins, Sarah Gregorious slotting home after a well worked move down the left, and a classy back-heel from fellow striker Emma Main. We continued to press, and created several chances, with Main hitting the crossbar with a header, and a Carolyn O’Reilly shot blocked off the line from a corner. Just before the 20 min mark, Main connected with a CJ Bott cross and this time aimed her header into the back of the net. 2-0.
After half time, Marist started the stronger, and scored within the first 10 mins bringing the score back to 2-1. The rest of the half was a hard grind and at times we were on the back foot, but the score remained 2-1 and we took 3 points home in the ‘Happy Days’ van (feel free to ask Grego about our transport…. 🙂 ).
The Premier team took on an experienced Brooklyn away at Wakefield Park in typically blustery conditions. We got off to a slow start unfortunately, and went into the half 3-0 down. Brooklyn showed their experience and physicality throughout the match, but a much improved second half saw us settle down and begin to play around them. Despite creating some excellent chances and forcing saves out of the Brooklyn keeper, we were unable to finish, and Brooklyn caught us on the break, netting again and closing out the game 4-0. Despite the somewhat flattering score, there were definitely some positives to take away and a solid base to build on for coming weeks.
Round two saw the W League take on local rivals Stop Out at Hutt Park 3 (after being transferred off a pristine Hutt Park 2) whom had been given a footballing lesson the previous week being beaten 12-0. Expectations were high for a sustained 90 minute performance, but the 7-0 result belied the quality of the game, and the team would be the first to acknowledge that we missed an opportunity to maintain our high standards.
The Premier team had their first game at home against Waterside Karori, and competed strongly all over the pitch. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to convert, and in conceding a penalty went down 1-0.
Good Friday has both teams at home competing in the local Kelly Cup competition. At 11am the Premier team will face off against W League team Palmerston North Marist, while the W League team take on Wairarapa at 1pm. We welcome both teams to Maidstone.
Good luck to all the teams playing this Easter Weekend.
#bleedorange
Gibby
W-League POD
Round 1 – CJ Bott
Round 2 – Bex Jefferies
Premier League POD
Round 1 – Katie Mawdesley
Round 2 – Zoe Barrott
Check out photos from the game in our Women’s Gallery