Southern Districts defying all the odds in Cheryl Salisbury Cup
This untimely loss put Southern Districts up against the highly fancied Premier League outfit, North West Sydney Women in the Quarter-Finals but they were not to be overawed by their opposition or overcome by their loss earlier and they were able to take NWS Women to the wire (0-0) and then overcome the odds and win the penalty shoot out when their ?keeper was able to save four penalties (the other hit the cross-bar) and now will play Central Coast Lightning again tomorrow (Friday) morning in the 2nd Semi Final.
Central Coast Lightning made it to the semis finishing top of Group B after their defeat of Southern Districts and met Penrith Nepean United in their Quarter-Final which turned out to be one of the matches of the tournament. CCL were a much bigger outfit than PNU but the smaller kids stood up to be counted and scored the first goal to lead 1-0 for much of the match. CCL threw everything at PNU but could not make the breakthrough, with three shorts hitting the posts and rebounding heartbreakingly. However, their persistence paid dividends when late in the match they were able to scramble through an equalizer and send the match into extra time. With neither team able to notch the elusive ?golden goal? it was the dreaded penalty shoot out that was required to decide the semi-finalist. CCL were able to overcome PNU 3p-2p in the shoot-out and progress to their semi-final against Southern Districts.
Earlier it was Sutherland Sharks who beat Macarthur Rams 1-0 to finish 2nd in Group B and take their place in the quarter-finals against Northern Tigers who grabbed a point when they drew with Southern Branch in their final round match to finish 3rd in Group A. This quarter final was also an absolute cracker with both teams playing exciting and attacking football, real end to end stuff that had the crowd on their feet. However quarter-finals are sudden death matches and it was the Northern Tigers who progressed to the semis courtesy of a 1-0 victory.
The first quarter final was played between Southern Branch who only needed a point from their draw with the Tigers to claim top spot in Group A and Macarthur Rams who finished 4th in Group B after their earlier loss (0-1) to Sutherland in the final round. Well, it was this match that set the standard for the other three quarter finals, with both teams playing outstanding football and it was the Rams who grabbed the first goal, then Southern, then Macarthur and finally Southern who scored only seconds from full time to send the match into overtime. Not long into extra time, it was Southern Branch who were obviously on a roll and they grabbed that elusive ?golden goal? that was to send them into the semi finals against Northern Tigers.
The standard of play by all teams in this tournament has been outstanding and the fact that of the four quarter finals, one was won 1-0, another by a golden goal and the remaining two in penalty shoot-outs.
This all makes for a great Finals Day at Valentine with the semis kicking off at 9.30am, an exhibition match involving the Football NSW State Under 14 Women and the Final at 12.00pm.
Full results and the draw can be viewed on this website under Competitions > Women > Cheryl Salisbury Cup.
Larry Grant
Competition Secretary.
Semi Final 1 9.30am Friday 24 July 2009
Central Coast Lightning v Southern Districts
Semi Final 2 9.30am Friday 24 July 2009
Northern Tigers v Southern Branch
Cheryl Salisbury Cup Final 12.00pm 24 July 2009
Winner Semi Final 1 v Winner Semi Final 2
