This year has been an exceptional one for the Y7 Girls Football Team here at Northcross. It all started at the end of June when the girls played in the North Harbour Champs. This tournament saw NX play 6 games, winning 5 and losing just 1. On route to their title they scored an impressive 24 goals and conceded only 2. A great tournament and result with several first time players involved. The girls’ victory at North Harbour led them to the Auckland Champs on the 14th June. It is the first time a NX girls’ team has made this stage in over 7 years. The conditions were not favourable to faint of heart as it was torrential rain for the entire day! The NX girls didn’t let this bother them though as they set of a frantic pace winning their pool at a canter with a string of 4-0 victories. This moved them onto the semi-finals where they came up against Balmoral Intermediate. NX dominated the game but couldn’t put the ball in the net. When it looked curtained to be heading to penalties, NX find some space out wide and delivered the goal they deserved to take a 1-0 victory and their place in the final.
Somerville was the opponent in the final. At this stage of the day, fatigue was setting in for the girls (we only took one substitute) and Somerville were fresh; they had played one game less and had 5 subs. In the early exchanges this showed and NX conceded their first goal of the day. However, in the 2nd half the NX girls rallied hard and equalised from a set play to tie the game 1-1. This led to the tournament being decided on a penalty shootout. Sienna Hickling-Crane, our GK, stepped up and saved 3 penalties allowing the NX Y7 Girls to be crowned the Auckland Girls Football Champions!! What an awesome achievement!
