2000 Australian Women's Soccer Association Championships

Ten teams took part in the Junior Championship (Under-14) - New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, Northern New South Wales, Northern Territory, and New South Wales Country. In the Youth Championship (Under-17), eleven sides battled it out - the above ten plus a representative side from New Zealand.

W.A. have never had a strong team at these events as was evidenced last year when held at Gibney Reserve in Perth. The locals finished last in their group having lost all four qualifying matches but put some respectability back into their tournament with a 6-nil thrashing of Tasmania in the 9th Place Playoff. All wasn't lost for the host state, however, as two of their players - midfielders Lisa de Vanna and Colette McCallum - made the All-Star team.

The future of the sport in W.A. is strong after the recent successes of Perth Glory in the N.S.L. and the Matilda's at international level. This is no more so that at Inglewood United who had three girls - Linda Ostrick (11), Laura Turnbull (12) and Carmen Mutton (12) - in the Junior side which competed in Queensland. Bruna Mutton, mother of Carmen, believes women's soccer has taken off in leaps and bounds in the past few years and said the set-up at United in particular was fantastic in fostering young talent. "The girls love playing soccer and the club has helped them every step of the way. The coaches are very supportive and everyone has made sure we had the funs to go to Queensland."

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to cheer about in the W.A. sides opening fixture, a 0-5 loss to New South Wales Country. The Country side dominated throughout and held a comfortable three goal lead at the half-way point, including a double from Sally Shippard.

Second cab off the rank were South Australia in what was to be a scrappy encounter that was dominated by a strong breeze blowing downfield on a sloping pitch, meaning both sides had the advantage for 35 minutes. S.A. used their first half 'help' to tuck the ball away twice in goalmouth scrambles, but W.A. failed to find the net despite their territorial advantage in the second period to lose 0-2.

The Group 2's bottom two sides were pitted against each other the next day which saw both the Northern Territory and W.A. girls come away with their first point of the event. In an entertaining match which both teams had their chances to win and it looked like being W.A's day when Tasha Vener beat the last defender to slot the ball home in the 23rd minute. But within two minutes N.T. hit back with an equaliser through an Emelia Cardona strike.

The final group match saw a 0-2 loss to the side from Northern New South Wales, enabling the W.A. team to finish in fourth position, above Northern Territory on goal difference. W.A. finished the tournament on a high, taking out 7th Place in the final standings by defeating Tasmania through a Carmen Mutton goal in the 7th minute.

New South Wales defeated Queensland in the final 3-1 the following day. The A.C.T.'s Nicole Somi was named the Most Valuable Player in the Junior competition.

Junior (Under-14) Touring Party

Junior Results

Final Junior Group 2 Standings

The Youth Championship promised a thrilling week's competition with Northern N.S.W. the favourites for the crown. That side featured no less than five members of the Australian Under-17 squad which recently competed in the Adidas Cup in America. Like their Junior counterparts, W.A.'s Youth side struggled last year, going down in all five group fixtures to finish bottom of the heap in Darwin where Melissa Gonzalez scored the state's only goal of the tournament.

W.A, kicked off this years event with a 5-nil thrashing at the hands of New South Wales who dominated from the outset and were more than worthy winners at the end of 70 minutes. Former Western Australian Collette McCallum opening N.S.W.'s account after just four minutes, Emma Davison later put away a goal in each half with the others coming from Kim McMinimee and an own goal.

A shock 0-1 loss to the Northern Territory followed, striker Melanie Healey bagging the all-important goal in the very first minute of play. Despite two early losses, spirits were high in the W.A. after national broadcaster Triple J adopted the W.A. side as their own, morning host Adam Spencer interviewing defender Angea Travers on an daily basis until the end of the tournament.

W.A. caught Queensland napping the next day, scoring their first goal of the tournament after less than a minute's play, Jessica Sardi the hero. The Maroons failed to settle and looked disorganised and shapeless for the remainder of the first half. A turnaround after the break however saw the Queenslanders finally hit back, scoring three goals in the space of nine minutes through Lana Harch (2) and Aivi Luik.

The Perth girls finally got their first points of the tournament by snatching a 1-0 win over Tasmania in dramatic circumstances. A hotly disputed penalty awarded with two minutes of play remaining was coverted by Elise Bogle. Aside from an early chance to W.A. which came back off the woodwork, South Australia were always in control of their clash and they ended up recording a 0-3 win to put them in contention for a finals berth.

The final round of matches saw W.A. take on the Australian Capital Territory side. With both sides playing for pride alone by this stage, the A.C.T. side earnt their second win of the event thanks to a great right foot strike from 16 metres by Kerenna Rawson to see the points go their way.

The Youth crown eventually went to South Australia who faced Northern new South Wales in the final. With the scores deadlocked at 0-0 after regulation and extra-time, penalties were required with the South Australian's triumphing 6-5. It was a day of double celebrations for the side as Stacey Stocco won the age-groups Most Valuable Player award.

Youth (Under-17) Touring Party

Youth Results

Final Youth Group Standings

Special thanks to Gordon 'GeeDub' Wilson for providing match information and squad details.