Just four teams remain in the all age women division in Football NSW's Champion of Champions tournament and the Woonona Sharks are one of them after beating Tahmoor 2-0.
Woonona went into the match cautiously against a relative unknown in Tahmoor at Macedonia Park. The Sharks went into the break 1-0 up thanks to a goal from Jessica Beale before a Jordan Wheatley header from a set piece put the result beyond doubt in the second 45.
As a result the team will now face Seaforth the following weekend, with the time and venue still to be confirmed.
Woonona's Morgan Anderson heaped plenty of praise on Tahmoor but was proud of her team for getting the job done.
"They were a really tough team," she said.
"They definitely stuck it to us and we probably didn't take all of our opportunities in front of goal, so we need to improve on that. But we were just really pumped to get the win.
"Neil [Castle, coach] said to us at half time that we needed to be better and that they were going to come out firing and that they were a really good team. He just said that we needed to become more focused and just make sure that we're taking our opportunities and that if we didn't we could easily concede and then find ourselves behind.
"He gave us that talking to that we needed so that we could come out in the second half and score another goal."
Woonona will take on Seaforth and Anderson said the team knew full well the test that was in store for them.
"They're going to be the hardest team that we're facing in this competition yet. They're really strong. They had a really good win on the weekend as well. So we know that we need to sort ourselves out at training and make that that we capitalise on our opportunities in front of goal in that game," Anderson added.
The other semi-final in the all age women's division will be Jamisontown versus Kellyville Kolts. Should Woonona negotiate Seaforth, they will meet one of these two teams in the final.
It was a massive day of Illawarra teams in the Champion of Champions competition at Macedonia Park. Earlier in the day, Balgownie's U14 male team defeated White City 3-0. They will be looking to add another trophy to the cabinet after claiming the State Cup earlier this season.
In other results, UOW's U14 females won 5-2 against Penrith Rovers, Shellharbour U15 males were knocked out in extra time in a 2-1 loss to Pitt Town and Thirroul's over 30 females had a comprehensive 4-1 victory against Ropes Crossing.
Teams that were victorious will progress to the next stage to be played on Sunday, October 15.
Our news app has had a makeover, making it faster and giving you access to even more great content. Download The Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store and Google Play.
Jordan Warren
From the Illawarra my whole life, I have a passion for sports writing. Favourite sports include football, cricket and rugby league. Career highlights include covering the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2022 UCI Cycling World Championships in Wollongong. I cover a range of sports, mainly football, but have written about rugby league, rugby union, racing, basketball, volleyball, Aussie Rules, cricket, mixed martial arts plus more. Particularly enjoy providing the latest updates to local fans of the Wolves, Illawarra Premier League (men's and women's) as well as the District League.
From the Illawarra my whole life, I have a passion for sports writing. Favourite sports include football, cricket and rugby league. Career highlights include covering the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2022 UCI Cycling World Championships in Wollongong. I cover a range of sports, mainly football, but have written about rugby league, rugby union, racing, basketball, volleyball, Aussie Rules, cricket, mixed martial arts plus more. Particularly enjoy providing the latest updates to local fans of the Wolves, Illawarra Premier League (men's and women's) as well as the District League.
