James Murphy
APOLLO 3 d INTERNATIONAL 0
INTERNATIONAL’S senior women’s soccer team was knocked out of Limestone Coast Football Association finals in straight sets on Saturday.
After a loss to Blue Lake in the semi final the week prior, the girls in black and blue met Apollo in Saturday’s preliminary final for a second chance to book a grand final berth.
However, after an even first half the scores were tied at nil-all, before three Apollo goals in the second term secured the final place in the decider.
After an undefeated minor season, Inter is now forced to return to the drawing board for 2023.
On the flip side, Apollo coach Jamie Stephenson could not have been prouder of his team.
After finishing bottom two in 2021, the turnaround from Apollo’s women has been immense.
Stephenson said Saturday’s game was a hard-fought contest, with little separating the sides at the break.
“We knew they would come out firing with everything they had,” he said.
“The first half was fairly even I thought.
“At half time I looked at my girls and saw they still had a bit of energy left in them.
“I knew if we could hold them for 10 or 15 minutes we were in for a good chance to sneak one.
“In fairness to Inter, in the first 10 minutes of the second half we couldn’t get it out of our defence.”
Relentless pressure from the Inter attack put Apollo on the back foot, but when a counter-attack opportunity rewarded striker Daylia Daylia with the first goal of the match, confidence began to grow for the underdogs.
Daylia converted a second goal shortly after, before youngster Isobelle Fewster wrapped things up with a goal in the final minutes.
It was an impressive result for Apollo and earns it a chance at premiership glory against an equally tough Blue Lake outfit.
“To go from bottom two last year, to top two this year, it is a credit to the girls,” Stephenson said.
“Now we have one more game and nothing to lose.”
