Bellingen High 19s girls have played the best futsal teams in the Australasian Champion of Champions on the Gold Coast, finishing as runners-up.
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Two teams from Bellingen High School, the 16 years and 19 years girls competed at the Senior Australasian School Futsal Titles.
The 19 years girls had their first game against the very strong Assisi Catholic College. The game was a close affair with opportunities for both sides. The Bello girls scored first, but unfortunately that was their only goal and Assisi won 2-1.
The next game against Helensvale SHS saw a lot of near misses by the Bello girls which if converted would have given them the game, however, a 3-3 draw was the final score.
Day 2 and the 19s girls had to play Brigidine College and despite the Bello girls dominating possession Brigidine scored first. They equalised 1-1 just before half time and played the second half with good passing and many unconverted opportunities taking the game in the last five minutes 2-1. Then the girls had to face Chancellor College in their second game for the day. Despite playing well and really putting it to their very strong opposition a few errors saw Chancellor take the game 5-3.
Day 3 and a do or die game with local rivals Bishop Druitt College. Both teams needed a win or scored draw to make the semis. The Bellingen girls dominated from the start outplaying their opposition winning 7-3.
The semi-final was against second-placed Chancellor College. This time the girls were better prepared for their opposition and came away with the game 3-1.
This put them into the grand final against Assisi Catholic College with an enrolment of over 1400 students. The girls were tired and injured and despite their best efforts could not match it with Assisi and went down 4-0.
Runners-up at Australasian Titles is still an amazing result.
The first game for the 16 years girls was against Canterbury College, and the girls got on top early scoring three goals in the first seven minutes, which put them in a great position. They went on to win 6-1.
The second game against Mansfield SHS was much tougher, with Mansfield boasting a school of some 2,400 students to select from. Despite many opportunities to score the girls ended with a 2-2 game.
Their third game on the first day of competition was against Murrumba State Secondary College, another large school with an enrolment of over 1,400 students. Again some beautiful play set up many opportunities yet finishing seemed a problem. Again a 2-2 draw.
Day 2 and the 16s didn’t get to play until 5pm against Mackillop Catholic College from the Central Coast and kept their undefeated record winning 2-1 again with many missed chances.
Their last preliminary game saw them up against St Ursula’s from Toowoomba. With tired legs and aching bodies the girls played below their normal standard and went down 5-0 finishing the game at 8pm (9pm NSW).
Day 3 and there was a semi-final game against Murrumba waiting. The girls set up many scoring opportunities but again the problem of not finishing, again and again! A disappointing result going down 3-1, but by no means a disappointing performance from a great young team. Only one girl in the team was 16, with 5 fifteen year olds, 2 fourteen year olds and 1 thirteen year old. The future looks bright for the team next year!
There is still more to come with the 13 years boys, 14 years boys and 14 years girls all to compete at the Junior Australasian Titles in two weeks.