Tasmania’s 13-year-old midfielder Lucy MacGregor performed very well at the recent AFC Festival of Football in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The Australian Under-13 Girls national team won seven games, lost two and drew one.
MacGregor scored three goals in the tournament in her role as an attacking midfielder.
MacGregor had been one of two Tasmanian players invited to attend national trials for selecting the Australian side. The other was Isabella Gee, who missed out on final selection but was placed on the reserve list.
Three Tasmanians - MacGregor, Gee and Caitlin Stalker - had been initially identified at the National Junior Championships for Girls and were selected in the All-Star team after that tournament.
“The girls have been following the Westfield Matildas’ progress at the Asian Cup and I think you’ll see a few future Westfield Matildas come from this group of players,” said Australian Under-13 Girls’ Team head coach, Nicola Williams.
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For those who follow the women’s game, there’s a big showdown at KGV Park tomorrow [Thursday] at 6.30pm, with a top-of-the-table Division One clash between leaders Beachside and second-placed Nelson Eastern Suburbs.
Nelson had dominated Tasmanian women’s football for some time before 2009, winning 8 of the past 11 southern Premier League titles and many State-wide titles.
A number of the club’s senior players left to join Olympia in 2009 and the club focused its attention on up-and-coming junior players and included some 13-year-olds in its team. The side finished last in Division One in 2009 and did not earn a single point.
With the 2010 season going well so far, the club will nominate for the Premier League next season.
This season, the club has two teams and they are both in second place on the respective Division One and Division Two ladders.
Players to watch out for tomorrow night are 14-year-old striker Maddy Smith, 15-year-old striker-cum-midfielder Megan Jarvis, 14-year-old utility player Georgie Kennedy, and defender Stevie Triffitt, who is 25.
“It is a pleasure to play ween in and week out with so many talented young players and to see them improve so much,” said Nelson’s Division One team captain, Michelle Castle.
“Following serious knee injuries to a couple of key ‘mature’ players, the young players have really stepped up and I am confident that we will do well in Premier League in 2011.”
The club’s technical director, Michael Roach, said: “The rebuild of the women’s program has happened even more quickly than we expected and, given the young age and potential of the group we have, and with under-13 and under-14 girls’ teams beneath to flow through, we are looking to go to Premier League again a year ahead of our original schedule.
“This rebuild reflects the entire shift of the club over the last six years to working with youth, both boys and girls, including supporting and assisting the Eastern Region junior clubs and association and doing all we can to help players develop, but also to participate and enjoy their football.”
7 comments:
izzy gee and lucy macgregor have been part of the successful vikings futsal 12 girls team the past 2 years running and also the Islanders Futsal Academy, congratulations girls on your higher honors
Not a bad effort for the Clarence Premier Women's team that has gone from barely scoring a goal in a season, to winning the league in about 3-4 seasons if my memory serves me well. Worth a mention in this blog I think Walter when compared to this post.
I'm not even a Clarence Player...or a Woman for that matter, but I used to referee their games back in the struggling days!
Yes , must agree with 6:43. Great sight on Saturday night to see the jubilation of the players and coaches after the final whistle.
The highlight for me though were the dulcet tones of the big bald scotsman echoing across the ground.Its a pity we dont hear more singing at games . Great win for Clarence , I believe it is their 1st senior premiership ever for the club.
Anonymous 6.43pm, perhaps if Clarence were to provide Walter with the information, as Nelson obviously do, there might be something on the blog about their feats.
Herald, as I said I'm not from Clarence so I can't speak for what they do or don't do. Yet as an outside observer I can still look at a league table and see the result, which is what I thought deserved a mentioned.
Sounds like it would have been worth watching NRB! I'm kicking myself for not being able to go.
Congratulations to Nelson for their work in developing Womens football. The more clubs realise that Womens football has a huge future the better it will be .Five years ago CUFC decided that we wanted to play in The Womens Premier League and the best way forward was to develop home grown players . We struggled at first but just kept working at getting better and slowly but surely we have achieved success. What I term as success is not trophies and awards but the way in which you play the game. Clarence are now playing attractive football. This has been achieved by having good coaches for the girls right through from the under age level up to The Premier league.Clubs like Nelson , Lions , Taroona and Zebras are to be congratulated for developing young players and given time they will have their share of success and I for one look forward to seeing The Womens game become stronger.
Ronnie Bolton should be congratulated for his patience, dedication and determination to help the Clarence girls become a force in Womens football. The year before I came back to Knights we had a discussion about how important it was to nurture and help develop teams to make more teams really competative , which in turn makes the league stronger.
He survived where I didn't and his team are rightfully champions and a team who play in the right spirit. Well done Ronnie.
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