THE Lions roared at Taree on the weekend, with the New England U15 girls hitting their way to the Division 3 state title.
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It was mission accomplished for the Ben Hanlan-coached side after being relegated from Division 2 last year back to 3.
“They were extremely determined to go back up to Division 2,” manager Susan Lye said.
They were undefeated for the weekend and claimed the silverware with a 1-nil win over Nepean in Sunday’s final.
Earlier they’d accounted for Grafton (2) 3-nil in their semi-final after finishing top of their pool with victories over Tamworth 2 (1-nil), Northern Sydney & Beaches 2 (3-1), Sydney South 2 (2-nil) and Dubbo (3-1).
“They played really well,” Lye said.
“They had a strong structure and everyone had their roles to play and stuck to them.”
Their defence was the cornerstone, conceding just two goals in six games.
Captain and NSW keeper Mia Emanuel protected them well in goals but was well supported by the girls in front of her.
“In a lot of the games she didn’t see a lot of action,” Lye said.
It was indicative of what was a great team effort.
“They got on really well together, which showed on the field,” Lye said.
“They wanted to work hard for each other.”
She said they used a lot of width in their attack and pressed well too.
“They had to play some games on grass, which took a bit of getting used to,” Lye said.
“They had to change their game a little bit to do that.”
As the scoreline suggests, the final was a really tough game.
“It could have gone either way,” Lye said.
“But once we scored that goal we were really determined to make sure we didn’t concede anything.”
There was also individual recognition for Lucy Quast who was awarded a citizenship award for her behaviour on the field.
The 2s narrowly missed out on joining their 1s counterparts in the finals, going down to Bathurst 2 1-nil in their Division 4 semi-final.
The Tamworth 1s meanwhile finished fifth in Division 1 after edging out Bathurst 2-1 in their play-off game, having placed third in their pool, while the 2s played out a 0-all draw with Sydney East 2 in their fifth/sixth play-off.