The Nelson Bay under-14 girls touch football side created history at Port Macquarie last weekend by becoming the first ever Port Stephens team to win a junior state cup.
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And to top off a hugely successful tournament, the Bay's Ava Forster was named 'player of the grand final'.
Playing on the first day (Friday) in heavy conditions, the U14Gs recorded three wins and a draw and backed up on Saturday with another two victories wins to go through the preliminary rounds undefeated and also topping their pool.
On Sunday, the Bay girls defeated Singleton 5-0 in the quarter final, then made light work of Macksville in the semi-final, winning 13-2, to set-up a showdown with tournament favourites Manly in the grand final.
In the thrilling decider Nelson Bay's U14G took the early lead before Manly hit back. The Bay scored again late in the match to secure its inaugural title win.
Team coach Nicole Mitchell, a former state and Australian touch player, did an outstanding job in forming a lethal combination.
"The girls have had a great preparation, training for the past four months twice a week. All players showed great commitment to training sessions, which combined fitness, agility, ball work and games," Mitchell said.
"Every player had a role to play in the team which they did to perfection, working for each other. They played at the regional tournament at Nelson Bay where they were undefeated before the competition was cancelled due to the extreme weather conditions. So they set their sights on winning the state cup."
Mitchell said that the grand final was played on a dry track. "The girls went out and defended hard and were two tries up through Ava Foster and Ali Mitchell before Manly fought back. But the Bay held strong to run our winners 5-2."
The Nelson Bay team comprised of captains Taylor Smith and Ava Foster, Finlay Begley, Scarlett O'Conner, Charlise Thompson, Scarlett Lack, Isabelle Rawlins, Piper Ross, Milly Barnes, Kiara Debono, Summer Francis, Lillian Ellis, Abbey Orton and Alice Mitchell.
The team enjoyed great support from family, coach Mitchell, assistant coach Anna O'Conner and manager Simon Lack, who provided the vision, mentoring and understanding for this amazing slice of history to occur.
