Under 12 Girls finish Runners Up in Football NSW Champion of Champions

Our Cooks River Titans Under 12 Girls team played in today’s Football NSW Champion of Champions Grand Final at the headquarters of Football NSW, Valentine Park in Glenwood.The Champion of Champions competition is a knock out competition whereby all the champion teams from each of the state's associations play off to see who is the best of the best for a particular age group and gender.

The Titans were representing the Canterbury & Districts Soccer Football Association as the grand final winners in the Under 12 Girls competition. Unfortunately, they were defeated 4-0 in the Grand Final by Shellharbour who were the champions from the Football South Coast Association.

The girls from Cooks River got to the final after receiving a bye in the Round of 32, defeating Quakers Hill 2-1 in the Round of 16, defeating Pagewood Botany 2-1 in the quarter final and Carss Park 4-0 in the semi final.

The entered the Grand Final on a chilly Sunday morning full of energy and excitement and after a regimented warm up followed by a team talk by coach Peter Millis, the girls paraded onto the field in front of a crowd of 150 spectators.

After the formalities, the game kicked off and Shellharbour took the game to Cooks River and dominated the opening exchanges. The Titans looked nervous but slowly wrestled control of the game to begin creating chances for themselves. Shellharbour exposed the Titans defence to find themselves with just the keeper to beat but on both occasions were ruled to be offside.

The Titans also had several half chances but either failed to get a shot away in time or make the last crucial pass due to pressure from the Shellharbour defence and therefore both teams went into the half time break tied at 0-0.

In the second half, Shellharbour continued to knock the ball long to heap pressure onto the Titans and in the 6^th minute of the second half the ball was lobbed into the box and the Shellharbour striker had time and space to score the opening goal of the game. Cooks River marched back to half way for the kick off but a through ball two minutes later gave the team from the South Coast a one on one situation with the Titans keeper. The striker rounded the keeper to pass the ball into an empty net to double their lead.

Several minutes later Shellharbour scored again as they continued to send balls into dangerous attacking areas making it hard for the Titans to gain any form of control. Cooks River then ramped up their game and kept Shellharbour pinned in their half for most of the final quarter of the game with a series of freekicks and corners which almost led to a goal but great scrambling defence kept the Sky Blues scoreless. Shellharbour finished the scoring with a goal against the run of play to end up with a final score of 4-0.

The Cooks River Titans girls may have ended the game feeling somewhat disappointed as they did not play to their potential especially after playing so well the week before in the semi final. However, this team was only put together this year with most girls having only a year or two experience in playing football so full credit must go to the coaching staff of Peter Millis and Maddi Costanzo as well as their ever efficient manager Mallissa Vourakis for creating such a great team in such a small amount of time. The girls epitomised what the Cooks River Titans are all about by displaying character traits of camaraderie, determination, discipline, humility, respect for each other, the opposition and officials and of course having fun.

The committee and all those associated with the Cooks River Titans Football Club are extremely proud of our Under 12 Girls who represented the Club today and throughout the entire season with such dignity and honour. Win or lose, you will always be champions.