August 17th, 2023Soccer victory for Daylesford College junior girls

Words & image: Janise Slater

Not to be outdone by The Matildas, Daylesford College junior girls soccer team was victorious in the Greater Western Region finals, earlier this month.
The pressure from Daylesford was relentless from the beginning of the game, with an early goal coming from winning the ball back from pressing the opposition.
Neisa Drogriski, captain on the day, lead by example, winning the ball back in the midfield, scoring a hat-trick and setting up a number of attacking phases.
The team went in at half time 2-0 against the wind, with goals from Lilly Willcocks-Fernandez and Neisa’s first goal after Martha Richard’s fantastic work as goalkeeper in the first half, including her great distribution with the ball.
Katie Newton took the gloves for the second half making an outstanding one-on-one save. With the wind behind them, the team dominated the territory battle, pouring on another four goals in the second half.
Abby Dunstan scored with a hard, low strike finding the bottom corner after Paula Ielo beat a defender, and played a ball for Abby to run onto.
Neisa found the net twice in the second half, the last being a great strike from range to give the goalkeeper no chance as she rounded out her hat-trick. Emma Koleski finished off a fantastic display in which she controlled the midfield with a goal coming from her stealing the ball off a defender before a tidy finish.
The final score was 6-1 with some incredible goals and passages of play. The team will now prepare for the state finals in September.