League Match Report – Round 3 v South Adelaide

Round 3 took us to Flinders University Stadium to face the only other remaining undefeated team, South Adelaide. We had 2 forced changes to the side following from last week’s win against North Adelaide with Zoe Greer missing due to concussion, and Crow Keeley Kustermann missing due to a quad injury. We welcomed exciting young duo Grace McNicol in for her first league game of 2023, along with U18 State rep Asha Dufour after a solid game in the Development League in Round 2.

Our Westies girls started off slow, with South gaining control of the ball in their forward half. Although indirect, South hit the scoreboard first kicking the first 4 scores of the night before Ruby Ballard put us on the board after a shot on goal was touched off the boot to give South a 8 point lead at quarter time. We also had our first hit of the night with key midfielder Jess Macolino coming off with a shoulder injury and wouldn’t return to the game.

The 2^nd quarter our girls started to find their feet and dominated much of the 2^nd quarter. Tabby Saville kicked our first goal of the game after a strong mark Inside 50 and finished off a set shot, while Asha Dufour kicked our 2^nd off a Steph Tredwell assist and soccered the ball through an open goal. We took a 3-point lead into half time.

The 3^rd quarter saw a bit of back and forth, and South kicked the first goal of the quarter, before young 16-year-old Steph Tredwell kicked back to back goals to give us the lead back at 3 quarter time. Despite taking the lead into the third, both Captain Madi Russell and Paige Allan would come from the ground with apparent knee injuries and took no further part in the game.

Being down 3 players meant that we would have to push hard to hold onto our 10-point lead. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long as South kicked a goal within the first minute of the quarter to bring our lead back to 4-points before kicking another one at the 10-minute mark to give them the lead. The girls fought hard in the last 10 minutes to try wrestle back the lead but South’s defense held up strong and we finished the game 2-points down in a tough battle.

However, going into the bye 2-1 against some strong competition early is a good indication of where we are at this season. We’ll use the bye to rest and recover and look forward to welcoming some handy inclusions in our Round 4 match up against last year’s Grand Finalist’s Sturt at home.

Best Players: Iilish Ross, Tess Huxtable, Jess Chyer, Lauren Young, Ruby Ballard, Madi Russell

Goal Scorers: Steph Tredwell 2, Asha Dufour 1, Tabby Saville 1