Girls Football
Blistering winter day the bounce of the ball started a fierce battle between Pigeons and Panthers. Lavington came out firing with the result of the first 3 quick goals on the scoreboard to a shocked Yarrawonga team.
Within minutes of this the Pigeons started to get some momentum happening through some a fearless display of Juliette going in hard for the ball. With the wet conditions making it hard for both teams, the pigeon were able to get their hands on the ball from Ellie-Jo sensational mark which enabled a kick of perfection to her teammate. Sarah demonstrated why she is the last line of defense for the Pigeons, laying many tackles and spoiling many attempted marks. Quick rotations saw Evita move into the ruck being supported by Darcy - both working as a tight unit to get the ball out of the middle. Elly R showed an excellent demonstration of running through the packs to enable the forwards a chance at scoring. The Pigeons hard work paid off by adding 2 goals their total. Quarter time saw the Pigeons trailing the panthers by 12. Siren blew to start second quarter, whatever the coaches said to his players, saw a different looking team. The girls were playing for each possession and were going in hard at every contest. The girls were hard to get the ball into their playing 50, excitement building in the crowd with excellent team work by Annie and Tayla with a shot at goal landing in a point. Half time break saw panthers with a handy lead. With same game rotations saw Darcy in the backline which proved critical in taking an awesome mark preventing a goal. As the sun came out the girls were able to get plenty more possessions. With the ball being in pigeon’s forward line for most of the quarter both team was hard. Zali took a beautiful mark at centre half back just in the nick of time of stopping the panthers gaining momentum. Leading into the last quarter with 4 goals down, coach words were simply - “play it out to the very end, give it everything left in the tank”.
Keen to not to let their coach down the challenge was accepted, last quarter saw the girls going extra hard at each play, huge highlight seeing Annie returning from injury charge through the pack to kick the ball on full bounce down the field. Juliette displayed why she is a force to be reckon with, taking the panther’s girls head on, showing her true courage and inspiring her team mates. A huge thanks to Leigh Wallden for staying around to umpire. The girls really appreciate it. Awards: Ryan family award – Juilette, Wingates – Sarah, Souleiado – Darcy, Brewit – Evita.