Female football is alive and well in the Illawarra, with the region home to two new state champions.
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Shellharbour under-12 girls and Albion Park under-18 women are the 2016 NSW Champion of Champions in their respective divisions.
Shellharbour downed a gallant Cooks River Titans 4-0 in their grand final played at Valentine Sports Park on Sunday.
There was goal-mouth action aplenty but the teams somehow went to the main break scoreless before Shellharbour took control early in the second period.
And it was spearhead Angelica Barraza who did the damage, banging in two classy goals in as many minutes.
Following the half-time advice of their coach Mark Dos Santos, the Shellharbour girls fought off the Titans’ spirited fightback and kicked on to ice the match following goals to Aleksia Petrovska and Caitlin Russell.
Aleksia is the daughter of former NSL star Sasho Petrovski, who was part of the coaching panel alongside Dos Santos and his wife Mel, the team’s manager.
“We couldn’t [coaches] be prouder of the girls. They were outstanding,’’ Dos Santos said.
“Cooks River let their guard down just a little bit and we punished them. It’s a great win for our club.’’
It was also a fantastic win for Albion Park under-18’s women’s team later on Sunday when they downed Albury City 3-1 in their decider.
Albion Park applied all the early pressure and the Albury goal was leading a charmed life but skipper Rylee McGartland stepped up to fire the Park ahead midway through the first half.
Albury though somehow managed to draw level in the 40th minute against the run of play.
A minute later Park were in front again thanks to Shanae Webster. Victory was the Park’s when Kristen Gorgieski added the third with a powerfully struck right footer in the 57th minute.
Two other Football South Coast outfits fell at the final hurdle, with Tarrawanna losing their all-age women’s decider 2-1 to Dunbar Rovers, and Thirroul beaten 4-0 by Epping FC in the 21 women’s decider.
Football South Coast chief executive Ann-Marie Balliana praised all teams.