BOTH Emerald and Powelltown had beaten each other during the season, so some thought Powelltown could be the team to derail the dominant Emerald.
At every break Powelltown trailed Emerald, but it was never by much – two or three goals was the biggest margin for most of the game.
This caused some uneasiness for the girls who finished on top of the ladder, and had defeated each team at least once throughout the year.
But Powelltown’s defenders just weren’t as good as Emerald’s. Samantha Coller and Nikki Argoon represented their club in interleague and are very difficult to beat even on an off day.
There were times when the pair were on the back foot, but immediately righted anything that was out of place to be the ones who led their team to victory.
The result went down to the wire. Powelltown had every chance to try and gain the lead, but missed too many shots. Emerald was accurate and held on to win.
Meagan Baguley was awarded Best on Court. Samantha Coller, Megan Whiteroad (16 goals) and Elise Borg were among the best for Emerald.
Powelltown’s Erin Williams, Michelle Finlay, Simone Traynor and Ella Bound (16 goals) were deemed best in their two goal loss.
Emerald 31 d Powelltown 29
@BT Sport Sub Mail:
Division 1
A Grade
Preliminary final
UPWEY was the more fancied side heading into this clash, after coming very close to beating Mount Evelyn the previous week.
Upwey was very slow to work its way into this game, while Wandin was on song and rose to the challenge to gain the lead early.
Wandin’s goallers were very accurate – far more so than Upweys – but it was Wandin’s defenders led by Lauren Close and Nikki Phillips that were the highlight of the game.
They hardly missed a beat and kept things in check.
Melissa Martinov (34 goals), Lauren Close, Nikki Phillips and Rebecca Tilley were Wandin’s best.
Upwey Tecoma missed far too many goals. Krista Tomlinson, Jordan Lingard (15 goals), Riley McLoughlin and Natalie Montanari were their best players.
Wandin 40 d Upwey Tecoma 34