In a repeat of last years grand final, 2011 saw Barker face off against Chevalier and once again it was the Barker girls who came out victorious with an incredibly hard fought 1-0 victory.
After a resounding 4-0 victory the week before in the semi final against Redlands College, this game had all the typical attributes of a grand final - it was tense, thrilling and nerve racking all thrown into one. Clearly nerves played a part in the opening stages of the game and with Chevalier's bustling defensive tactics the Barker girls simply couldn't settle into their normal "pass & move" rhythm. As a result, our best chances in the opening exchanges came from set plays or long range efforts and Bronte Black's corners certainly provided us with several opportunities to open the scoring with Megan Chong coming closest when her well timed shot went narrowly wide. The in form Chris Maibom then had two great opportunities to score after great lead up work from co captain Lexy Slater but uncharacteristically she didn't take her chances.
Thankfully the deadlock was broken late in the 1st half when Jules Davidson followed a long range shot from Nicolle Harcomb which bounced over the opposition keeper's outstretched hands and she literally "forced" the ball into the back of the net with her thigh from short range giving us a fortunate 1-0 lead. This goal seemed to inspire the girls and they certainly finished the 1st half on top of Chev in terms of possession but couldn't quite convert this pressure into more goals, although Jules did come close to scoring her second with a superb strike from 30 yards which just narrowly missed the mark. At the other end, the girls were defending stoutly with Bronte, Megan, Katie Stein, Alison Hurd and Eva Akopian leading the way along with our GK Sophie Little who made one spectacular save from short range to ensure we went into the half time break with that 1-0 lead.
Barker certainly started the brighter of the two teams in the 2nd half with Emily Rowbotham, Morgan Brennan, Jess Wigglesworth and Avalon De-Mestre playing well across the midfield and with Lauren Ginter in such good form up front we were always confident of scoring the all important 2nd goal, however the arm wrestle continued for the majority of the 2nd half with both sides attacking options being limited by some enthusiastic and aggressive defence. Both co-captains (Lexy & Lauren) came close to scoring that all important second goal midway through the 2nd half but sadly Chev players kept getting bodies in the way and whilst they were frustrated with their lack of goals on the day, the girls showed their true colors by not to allowing Chev to score at the other end although they managed to put us under some enormous pressure late in the game.
Once again, this amazing group of girls proved why they've kept so many clean sheets throughout the season with some very stubborn last line defending and there was none better than Zoe Landry and Eva Akopian who both saved us on a number of occasions late in the 2nd half. Equally as important was our goalkeeper Sophie Little who made three outstanding reflex saves late in the game to ensure Barker secured the 2011 title - their 3rd grand final victory in as many years. This was an amazing finish to yet another amazing season for Barker Girls football.
Congratulations girls, you should be very proud of your achievements in 2011 - simply outstanding.