Success for soccer girls

Berwick Soccer Club players Rachel Binning, Jaye Todd and Jaylan Martin played in Victoria’s bronze-medal winning 12-and-under soccer side in Adelaide this month. 36568Picture: Stewart Chambers

By Marc McGowan
THREE Berwick City Soccer Club players helped Victoria snare bronze in this month’s national schoolgirls’ 12-and-under championships in Adelaide.
Defender Rachel Binning, winger Jaylan Martin and goalkeeper Jayde Todd all impressed coach Cameron Heath.
Victoria qualified for the finals – alongside powerhouses Queensland and New South Wales – with two wins, two losses and a draw in the round-robin competition.
The Victorian girls then upset previously undefeated Queensland in the first of their finals matches to put themselves in position for an unlikely gold medal.
It was the first time Victoria has beaten Queensland in 13 years.
But a single goal – scored inside the first 60 seconds – was enough for New South Wales to defeat Victoria and consign the latter to third place.
The points from the preliminary rounds were carried over to the finals, meaning Queensland still came out on top.
Heath rued his side’s 1-1 draw with the Australian Capital Territory in the round-robin stage, but was still thrilled with the third-place finish.
He believes the trio of local girls have bright futures in the game.
“If you’re noticed at this level it might take a couple of years before you make an Australian squad, but if you’ve been seen, and they remember you, that’s got to be an advantage,” Heath said.
“All three girls have got good potential to also make eventual older state teams.”
Victorian 12-and-under soccer coach Cameron Heath on the three Berwick City representatives:

@BT Sub Sport Gaz:Rachel Binning

Rachel played right back most of the time and was pretty solid there. She tackled hard and not many people got past her, so she was very good. She used the ball very well when she got it and made good decisions.

@BT Sub Sport Gaz:Jaylan Martin

Jaylan was good. She was fast and got down the line and crossed the ball and really got us into attack. She’s very smart and her endurance was one of her strengths as well.

@BT Sub Sport Gaz:Jaye Todd

Jaye was the goalkeeper and was great just with her presence and ability to come out and get the ball on one-on-ones and her communication was fantastic. Her kicking really improved over the journey.