Story courtesy footballwa.net
Last season’s Women’s State Cup winners Perth SC have been knocked out of this year’s competition, losing 3-1 on penalties to the Hyundai FW Academy side, after the game ended 1-1 at the Sam Kerr Football Centre on Friday evening.
“It was a high-quality game as expected from two good teams. Both teams defended well and it was always going to be decided by small margins on the night,” FW Academy coach Stephen Walmsley said.
“I was delighted for the group to get over the line and thought we deserved it overall. It was a mature performance across the park and we enjoyed the opportunity to play in the wind and the rain, digging deep and sticking together.
“I thought Daisy McGreadie Cole was outstanding in goal for us in both normal time and in the shootout. We knew we’d need big personality in big moments and she provided that for us on the night, so we are happy for her.”
It was the Azzurri who found the opener seven minutes into the second half, with Ella Lincoln’s low shot from the edge of the box beating McGreadie-Cole.
It looked like that would be the winner, but nine minutes from time Perth were reduced to ten, with Ruby Marshall shown a second yellow card and sent off.
The FW Academy youngsters pressed for the equaliser, and they found it two minutes into stoppage time. A free kick wasn’t dealt with by Perth, and in the scramble the ball found Theodora Mouithys, and her first time shot beat Dayle Schroeder and we were off to penalties.
In the shootout FA Academy keeper McGreadie-Cole was the hero. Mouithys scored the first for the Academy side, and McGreadie-Cole saved from Lincoln, to give the Academy the edge.
But Perth was back in it when Cate McAuliffe failed with her penalty, and Tijan McKenna scored with hers to make it 1-1.
Xuri Dalton made no mistake with her penalty, before McGreadie-Cole guessed the right way to save Violet Longmore’s effort. Lacey Heys made it 3-1, before Hannah Collins’ spot kick flew over the top, to seal the win for Stephen Walmsley’s side.