2019 Girls & Women's Cup Finals Preview

2019 Girls & Women's Cup Finals


Words by Firas Shahin

Under 13 Girls Cup – 9:00 am, Pitch 2
Adelaide City v Fulham United

The 2019 Under 13 Girls Cup Final will see two powerhouse women’s football club Fulham United and Adelaide City fight it out for the trophy. Adelaide city got through to the final after beating Adelaide Uni 2-1 in the Semi-Finals. Fulham got through after beating Adelaide Hills 2-0 in the other Semi-Final. Both teams will enter the match with pure fight after a 6-2 win for City last week and a 2-2 draw in Fulham’s last match. City are top of the table, with only losing 2 matches all season. Fulham are mid-table having only secured 7 league wins throughout the season. Having played each other 3 times already this season, these sides have proven to be quite evenly matched. City have won 2 of the encounters (2-1 and 3-0) while Fulham won the other encounter 1-0. Having played each other 3 times, this match will be the battle of the coaches to show what they have learned from their opposition in 2019. Expect a low scoring encounter in this match-up! Fulham’s defence will have some work ahead of them to ensure goal-scoring machine Ella Gush (20 goals in 16 matches for 2019) doesn’t continue her goal-scoring ways!

Under 15 Girls Cup – 9:00 am, Pitch 1
Adelaide University v Adelaide Jaguars

The 2019 Under 15 Girls Cup Final will see Adelaide Uni tackle Adelaide Jaguars in what will be one fantastic match-up. Adelaide Uni defeated Modbury Vista 8-1 in the Semi’s whilst Jaguars got through after 4-1 defeat over Fulham United. Adelaide Uni have proved to be the team to beat in their age group this season, having wrapped up the league in only 13 rounds, with 4 rounds to spare!. Being undefeated all season is one achievement, however, Uni’s defence have only conceded 10 goals this year. Jaguars will be out with force to prove that they can topple the league champions to ensure that not all the U15 trophies end up in the Uni clubrooms this year. Having reached the final after being knocked out in the 2018 Semi-Finals, Jaguars will be out to showcase their talent from the west. The West Lakes club have star recruit Kaitlin Reardon who is scoring at a goal a game, and will wish to continue that trend this final. However, the defence will have to give their best to ensure golden boot leader Sasha Coorey from Uni doesn’t score for her side.

Under 17 Girls Cup- 1:00 pm, Pitch 1
Fulham United v Metro United

The pinnacle Junior Girls Cup Final will see Fulham United tackle league leaders Metro United in the Under 17 Girls Cup Final for 2019. Metro United have proven to be the best Junior Girls football side in 2019, currently sitting top of the table with Cumberland hot on their heels. Metro enter the final after defeating Adelaide Hills 6-0 in the Semi’s and Fulham enter with a 4-0 victory over City in the other Semi. Metro last week had their first defeat of 2019 with a crushing 3-1 loss to Cumberland. That defeat is not the morale boost the Metro side wished to have entered the Cup Final. Metro have a good record over Fulham this season, having defeated them 6-2 and 6-0 comfortably in their previous 2 encounters, however, Fulham have shown in the cup that the league might not always count for everything. Fulham sit with only 4 league wins for 2019, but have beaten Adelaide City (3rd) and Adelaide Jaguars (2nd in Blue Division ) to reach the Cup Final and have shown that they can perform in big matches under pressure. Although Fulham have conceded 12 goals against Metro in 2019, we don’t expect many goals to be scored in this match-up.

Women’s Division 4/5/6 Cup – 11:00 am, Pitch 2
Sacred Heart Old Collegians (WCL) v Metro United (Div 4)

The 2019 Women’s Division 4/5/6 Cup Final will see top of the Collegiate League tackle 2nd placed Metro United from Div 4. This highly anticipated match will prove to be an unknown as the two sides have never met each other until this fixture. Sacred Heart have proved to be the standout club in the 2019 WCL and continue their fairy-tale season through the Cup Final. Sacred Heart in 2018 finished bottom of the WCL recording only 1 win, however, a strong pre-season and new coaching ways have proved key to their success in 2019, sitting top of the league only suffering 3 defeats so far. After being relegated from Division 3, Metro have that they want to come right back up in 2020. Both sides endured a 2-1 victory in the Semi-Finals and will look to showcase their best football come Sunday. With this match-up being an unknown, this will be one for the football fanatics.. will see a lot of goals? Will wee see Extra-time? We won’t know until we know!

Women’s Division 2/3 Cup – 11:00 am, Pitch 1
Salisbury Inter (Div 2) v Adelaide Comets (Div 3)

The 2019 Women’s Division 2/3 Cup Final will again see an unknown match-up with top of the table Division 2 (and league champions) Salisbury Inter battle it out against top of the table Division 3 side Adelaide Comets for the trophy. Both sides have shown their class in 2019. Salisbury Inter who were relegated from Div 1 in 2018 have shown that Div 2 is a breeze, being undefeated all season. Adelaide Comets are a brand new side in 2019, having only lost 1 fixture all year. Salisbury enter the fixture as league champions and wanting to add more trophies for their clubrooms this Sunday. Comets will want to win the cup to showcase they have what it takes to take on a Div 2 side. Salisbury cruised through the Semi-Final defeating Mercedes Old Collegians 6-0. Although these two teams are in different divisions, Inter will not be taking this match with ease. Comets have shown they have what it takes to beat a Div 2 side, having beaten Adelaide Uni (3rd in Div 2) in the Semi-Final (4-1). To put some fear into Inter, the Div 2 champions have only beaten the Div 2 side of Uni 2-1 and 1-0 this season. Although having never met before, expect one close match, and even Extra-time for this match!

Action Kicks-off at 9 am at VALO Football Centre on Sunday, August 18. Be sure to come on down and show your support for Women’s and Girls Football. Entry is $5 and FREE for 16 & Under.