The Wagga City Wanderers U11 Girls have won big at the Kanga Cup, claiming a 2-0 win in the grand final for their age group. Photo: Wagga City Wanderers.
The Wagga City Wanderers (WCW) have returned from their trip to the Kanga Cup with a heavier suitcase, after the U11 girls secured a thrilling 2-1 victory in the grand final.
The WCW sent 19 teams across several age groups for girls and boys, with three of the teams reaching grand finals. With the organisation already having secured a fantastic result, it was the U11 girls who stole the show, going undefeated across nine games to win their age bracket.
Coaches Stacey Collins and Liam Dedini said the hard work and dedication from every player on the team led to the incredible result.
“Nine of our teams got into semi-finals, and then three into the grand final was an awesome, awesome achievement,” Mr Dedini said.
“The U11 girls ended up going undefeated throughout their pool games from Monday to Thursday, and then they found themselves one-nil down in the semi-final until about seven minutes to go, after sort of dominating the game.
“They finally scored a couple of goals to get themselves into the grand final. They played incredibly well on the Friday, grand final day and were able to secure the win 2-0.”
Standing out from the competition was young striker Olive Cavangh, who travels 90 minutes to training from Harden each week.
Olive scored 18 goals across her team’s nine games, including the two in the grand final.
“We went to Canberra and did the Kanga Cup, and we played nine games, including the final. I scored 18 goals, all with the help of my teammates and coach,” Olive said.
The Ellie Carpenter mega fan said she loved meeting other players from Sydney, the Mid North Coast and Canberra.
Olive’s mother, Jess, said the Wagga City Wanderers program batted above its weight, offering a great opportunity for young regional girls looking to play football.
“The Wagga City Wanderers and their Skills Acquisition Program that they’ve created has granted such a great opportunity for the region’s young players,” she said.
“The level of coaching they get there is unbelievable. And I say that with Olive’s dad being her local football coach here in Harden, so I won’t be too disrespectful about him, but the coaching from people like Liam and Stacey is just next level.”
With a cloud over the Wagga City Wanderers’ future in Capital Football, Ms Cavangh said it would be a shame to see them removed from Capital Football competition.
The fact that there hasn’t been a girls team allowed in the Capital Football National Premier League today is really disappointing,” she said.
“A lot of people thought that at least having the boys in there would have created a pathway for the girls to have an NPL team as well. Now there’s no certainty they’ll be there in the future, which is really disappointing.
“Wagga is such a terrific club. The culture in the club is so great that we would hate to have to consider changing clubs.
“But if Olive’s passion took her to a point where she wanted to continue to play, and that was our only avenue, that would be really sad. We do have a preference for staying with Wagga. We’re a country family, and we want to stay in the country; that’s important to us. So it would be really disappointing if Wagga couldn’t form part of that NPL competition moving forward.”
