North West soccer teams finish strong at State Championships

The North West Boys' and Girls' teams both knew they were in for a rough start to their tournaments, which ran from last Tuesday to Thursday in Bathurst, but that opportunities would present themselves later in the week.

"Some of the girls that had been there before know that the first day is going to be tough," girls manager Tristan Jones said.

"I'd worded them up and said these two [Sydney] teams are full of young Matildas ... so they knew it was going to be tough and I said 'Don't get disheartened, just keep plugging away', and they did really well."

The girls started with two big losses to Sydney West and Sydney South West, 9-0 and 14-0 respectively.

Similarly, the North West boys lost 4-0 to Hunter and 3-1 to the NSWCHS Invite side on day one.

But over the next few days, both teams picked up their performances. The girls lost to North Coast 4-0 to start day two, before picking up a gritty 2-0 win over Western and, on the final day, signed off with an 11-2 shellacking of West Darling.

The boys, meanwhile, defeated West Darling 6-0 to start day two, then eeked out a narrow 1-0 win over Western before capping their tournament with a 3-1 win over Riverina, which manager Michael Lord said was "probably our best game of the carnival".

For their efforts, the boys finished the tournament ranked ninth out of 12 teams, and the girls were 10^th.

Lord was very pleased with the rate at which the boys' side improved, and said they might have given their initial opponents a run for their money by the end of the tournament.

"We were improving every day," he said.

"The more the team played together, there was a lot more possession, passing, opportunities to score, and moving the ball forward.

"I was very happy with the way they progressed."

Armidale's Laura Grant was awarded the Coach's Award for her efforts on the field last week, while Jones also highlighted Miriam Barbara and Brooke Wallis from Oxley High School for their contributions to the team as well.

Lord, meanwhile, couldn't pick just one player who stood out as "the whole team played really well".

"It's very high quality football at the CHS event, so the way they all played in different positions and some filled in unusual positions that they're not used to ... the effort and skill level of the whole team was outstanding."

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