South Bunbury have defeated Dunsborough in a thrilling Tronox Women’s Elimination Final at Kelly Park, winning by seven points to advance to the First Semi Final.
The Tigers started brilliantly with Kaitlin Eades kicking a goal in the opening two minutes to give the Tigers a blistering start. The match immediately tightened up, and as it turned out it would be the only goal of the quarter.
The second quarter was just as tight, with both defences well on top, which has been a trade mark of the Dunsborough team. Shelby Foster
kicked the Sharks first goal midway through the second term to give the Dunsborough side the lead, as they held the Tigers scoreless.
The third term saw South Bunbury start like they did in the opening term, kicking a very early goal via Adi Griffiths who kicked a good goal on the run, giving the Tigers back the lead. The remainder of the third term was played exclusively on the outer side of Kelly Park with both the ball going from back line to back line, with neither team able to score.
Maya Goudard kept up the trend of kicking an early goal to start the last term, but this time it made scores level, and the process of extra time started to become a reality. But it wouldn’t be needed with Mikayla Balloch kicking a brilliant set shot goal from the boundary line to give the Tigers back the lead, one they held to the final siren.
South Bunbury will now play Busselton in a First Semi Final, while for Dunsborough their first finals campaign is over.
Match Centre
South Bunbury 1.0.6 1.0.6 2.1.13 3.2.20
Dunsborough 0.1.1 1.1.7 1.1.7 2.1.13
Goals: South Bunbury – Mikayla Balloch 1, Kaitlin Eades 1, Adi Griffith 1. Dunsborough – Shelby Foster 1, Maya Goudard 1.
Best: South Bunbury – Taylah Cruttenden, Mabel Markey, Lily Gray, Zoe Huggett, Kaitlin Eades, Kiarni Stevens. Dunsborough – Shelby Foster, Summer Cunningham, Alyce Smith, Katie Horrocks, Maya Goudard, Isabella Suleski.
Ground: Kelly Park
Umpires: Cameron Valenti, Craig Perks
Reports: Nil
Crowd: 485
Photos courtesy of Wayne Hislop