ANYTHING can happen on grand final day.
That’s the thought process for Irymple Knights as they aim to end Mildura City’s unbeaten campaign and claim their first S-League senior women’s grand final trophy since 2018.
City have been the dominant force in women’s soccer in recent years, claiming eight of the past nine titles, and they want to end their season in the same vein.
Knights haven’t fared so well in head-to-head match-ups this season, but they may try and take inspiration from fellow senior women’s side Nichols Point, who scored an upset 2-0 victory in the grand final two years ago after City had been defeated just once during the home-and-away campaign.
Irymple vice-captain Daisy Sheehan said unexpected things can happen in finals.
“We’ve had a pretty good season, City have had the better of us so far but Sunday we hope we can come through and maybe show them a bit more of what we’ve got,” she said.
“Hopefully we can make it a good win and a good game this week.
“Lot of unexpected things happen, we’ve had these kind of results before where undefeated teams go through but lose in the grand final, and we’re hoping it could be us.
“Hopefully we can counter attack a bit better, we’re training a lot and really hard, but we’re also communicating about how we can get through and hopefully scores some goals.
“Hopefully we can get at least one in the net, and then make sure they don’t score.”
Mildura City captain Isabella Palamara shared her pride of the performances of her team this season.
Despite being an extremely young squad, with the oldest player at age 21 and the youngest 13, it is a powerful side they hope has one more win left in them this season.
“We’re all pretty proud of ourselves, going undefeated is a big thing for a club,” she said.
“Anything can happen this weekend, both teams are pretty strong but hopefully we can keep the undefeated run going.
“We all get along with each other, we all train hard and work hard and put all the effort in.
“We’re just a strong side and we’ve all grown up together and we’ve got that really strong bond on and off the pitch.”
Both players were hopeful of at least one more senior women’s team being involved in 2025.
The senior women’s grand final takes place at Aero Ovals from 1.15pm.
