Latest News
Maclean High now in final eight
Maclean High School open girl’s football team again showed their class and determination to win their Final 16 State knockout game against Winmalee High School from Western Sydney. Winmalee comes from the strong Sydney West region that had two players in their state winning regional team.
The game was played at Barry Watts Oval, Maclean and the coach from Winmalee commented on what great facilities Maclean FC and CV Council had created at the Wherrett Park Sports Complex.
The game started briskly with both teams creating chances in the first minute or so. The defensive players from both teams were starting to settle down; when at the 6th minute mark a through ball was pushed forward for Kayli Ohlmus to run onto. Kayli is not one to give up on chasing an attacking ball and chase it she did. The Winmalee keeper and Kayli arrived at the ball simultaneously with Kayli winning the challenge and calmly placing the ball into the goal.
Winmalee not to be intimidated by Maclean went on a number of attacking raids where Maclean had difficulty clearing the ball from their penalty area. From one of these attacks Winmalee scored to level 1 – 1 after 17 minutes. Maclean then stepped up a gear and went on a number of runs deep into the Winmalee defence. Winmalee cleared the ball off the line, their keeper made a series of crucial saves and some shots from Maclean were either just wide or hit the posts. The pressure built up on Winmalee who couldn’t clear the ball when it fell to Taylor Johnson who drifted in from the left to hit a first time right footed strike low and across the keeper to create a 2 – 1 score line that remained so at half and full time.
Much credit for the win goes to the defensive effort of all the players when they didn’t have possession. When they lost the ball they worked hard as a unit to get behind the ball and defend again. These players now take the school into uncharted territory. They are quarter finalists, the last 8 schools in the state, from 315 entries, a remarkable effort!
They next play Tomaree High School, one of the Hunter region’s winners at Barry Watts Oval on Wednesday July 19 for a 10.30 kickoff and would welcome any support on the day. The school would also like to acknowledge, CV council, Maclean FC and especially, Kate Skinner for their support through the state knockout.
Wayne Sutton