Fensibles Tournament 22nd May - Team Pheonix

The day dawned with brilliant sunshine and we arrived at the Point England Reserve full of hope for a great day's football. With some 60 teams between 8th grade and 12th grade it was a great day for girls football. Little were we to know that we'd be the last teams playing at the end of the day.

Team Pheonix
Sarah, Scarlett, Alisha, Sabine, McKenzie, Emma L, Rosa, Madison, Briar, Caitlin

Round 1: vs Drury United (2-0)
Our first game against Drury let us start to sort of the positions - a strategy for the day which was I think quite valuable. Our goal keepers for the first match Sarah and Alisha both kept clean sheets and went on to assist up front. A goal each for Sabine and Scarlett in each half let us take this first game of the day relatively easily. Learning areas for the game were to strengthen our thinking about the midfield with a need to focus more on our positions. We had a few occasions when were were still bunching. Good first up game (2-0 win) which gave us good confidence for the games ahead (bearing in mind that we were fortunate not to have our arch-nemesis Fencibles in our poll).


Round 2: vs FH Footy Chix (3-0)
After a short rest the girls then regrouped with Scarlett and McKenzie sharing the keeping duties. A goal in the first half to Sabine after much good passing and linkages between the girls. We were finally getting combinations together and finding space and passing in behind the defence! Great work a pleasure to watch. Second half then saw another two goals to Sarah and Caitlin. Caitlin's goal was nice to watch as the ball was chipped expertly over the goalie. Quite a resounding win over the Footy Chix from Forrest Hill - hadn't come across this team at any of our previous tournaments.

Round 3: vs Manurewa Falcons (2-0)

Manurewa Falcons were our third and final pool game and after a goalless first half two second-half goals gave the final 2-0 win. Goals to Alisha and Sabine, in another game of excellent positional play and teamwork.

Semi-final 2: Team Pheonix vs Fensibles (0-0, Pheonix win on penalties)

With the TKU Glory team coming first in their pool we were left to face off against Fencibles. As expected it was a tough game - nil-all after the 25 minutes of normal time, still that way after the golden goal extra time. There were several good opportunities, with one chance to seal it with excellent passing and teamwork, but the kick on goal went askew. So it was the nail-biting and heart palpitation generating penalty shoot-out. With Alisha in goal she kept out their first shot, and then Sabine didn't manage to get the ball through their keeper, Alisha saved again, Sarah couldn't get it in, Alisha saved again, then finally Scarlett scored. Alisha was then cleared of further duties as the rules indicated this was to be a golden goal shoot-out. After our great supporter team regained normal heart rhythms the girls were then faced with the grand final against .... TKU Glory!! Just as well Iain had arranged an away strip for the Glory team - just n case we were to meet in the final!


Final: Team Pheonix vs Team Glory (0-0, Pheonix win on penalties)

By this stage there were only a handful of games being played at Point England but by the end of the game we were indeed the last game on the field for the day.

The two TKU teams were extremely closely matched - attack and defence well matched, several rushes towards goal were kept out with good defence from Rachael, Emma and Lilli for Glory, and McKenzie, Emma for Phoenix. Again full time came and went, golden goal extra time came and went without result ..... down to shoot-out again ... still no result from the five shots from each side. By mutual agreement we shift the penalty spot 1m closer to the goal and then finally a blistering shot from Sarah into the bottom left hand corner, great shouts of joy but Alisha still had to keep out their last shot from Emily ... which she did!! After nearly 45 minutes of play the two teams were separated by only 1 goal.

Such a great day's play - between the two teams only one goal conceded - Phoenix scored 9 goals, none against.

Thanks to all the girls, their parents and our great coaching and /selection teams. It was great to see the camaraderie between the Phoenix and Glory girls and even towards other TKU girls teams as everyone cheered for each other. We appreciated the girls listening carefully to instructions at the beginning of each game (despite Wendy's voice challenge on the day).