Euphoria was felt around the ground at Dangar St Oval on Tuesday after Honey Kassel’s right foot strike put the ball into the back of the net in golden goal extra time to win the match for Melville High School’s Women’s side.
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Kassel latched onto a through ball, calmly turned a defender away and fired her shot into the bottom left corner, out of reach of the goalkeeper’s diving effort.
The 2-1 triumph over Lismore Trinity College advances Melville into the quarterfinals of the Bill Turner Trophy, a tournament that spans across all schools in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
It was a deserved result for Melville, who worked as a team to create quality chances and control the possession for the majority of the match.
The sides couldn’t be separated in regulation with first half goals to both sides keeping the scores level at 1 after the sixty minutes.
Melville opened the scoring 17 minutes into the match with Serenity Clancey pouncing onto a loose ball in the opposition half after Lismore made a defensive error.
Clancey pushed the ball around the keeper and tapped it into the open net.
Disaster struck with seconds remaining in the opening half when the referee controversially awarded Lismore a penalty after a Melville and Trinity College player collided.
The Lismore player stepped up and levelled the scores with the final act of the opening 30 minutes.
Melville pressed forward in the second half but couldn’t find the breakthrough.
Their hearts were in their mouths with minutes remaining when a Lismore shot seemed destined to enter their goals but it hit the post and bounced to safety.
The two sides entered the golden point period and it was Melville who continued to apply the pressure and were rewarded with Kassel’s heroics.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls, they have all worked hard for themselves, each other and the school,” Melville coach Emma Tamblyn said.
Melville will face the winner of Hunter Sports High and Oxley High School in the next round.