Newport has risen from the ashes to claim its 23rd Lacrosse Victoria women’s state league title in controversial fashion.
The Porters came back from three goals down with 10 minutes to go to topple highly fancied rivals Footscray 7-6 in the grand final at Percy Treyvaud Memorial Park on Saturday.
PICTURE GALLERY: Women’s lacrosse grand final: Newport beats Footscray
PICTURE GALLERY: Men’s lacrosse grand final: Footscray loses to Surrey Park
Late drama surrounded the match-winning goal from Porters’ attacker Elise Hussey.
With two minutes to go, Hussey wound up so hard that her goal rebounded off the back frame of the goal net and back into the field of play.
The umpires deemed it to have crossed the line, but the Footscray players disputed the call.
The goal, Hussey’s third and most important for the game, completed a fairytale comeback for the Porters, who scored four goals in eight minutes to chase down the Bulldogs and claim the premiership.
Porters coach Sue Sofarnos told Star Weekly the Hussey shot was debatable, depending on your point of view.
“It was a bit of a controversial one, but the umpires instantly called it a goal,” she said. “It was a really exciting end to the game and you didn’t know who had it won until the last seconds.”
This was the Porters’ 41st consecutive top-flight grand final, but they went in as underdogs having lost to the Bulldogs in their three previous encounters.
The game was going to script with Footscray bursting to a 6-3 lead. But the Porters refused to concede and launched a stunning recovery in the dying minutes.
“We were only in front in the first two minutes of the game and we weren’t in front again until the last two minutes,” Sofarnos
said. “I’m just proud of the girls and the way they fought it out. We felt that if we stayed in the moment, the scoreboard would look after itself.”
Bree Hussey was named the most valuable player in the grand final. The Porters goalkeeper made eight saves, including six in tricky one-on-one situations, to keep her team in the game.
Hayley Sofarnos had an enthralling duel in the centre with Danelle Mollison. There were sacrificial roles from Rachel Kirchheimer, who kept Sarah Mollison to just one goal, and Lyndsey Paton, who nullified the impact of Abbie Burgess. The turning point came when young sub Kelly Prentice scored from a half-chance with 10 minutes to go to spark a run of four Porters’ goals.
Meanwhile, it was a double blow for Footscray on Saturday as they lost the men’s state league grand final 12-10 to Surrey Park.
Lacrosse Victoria grand finals
State league women: Newport 7 Footscray 6
State league men: Surrey Park 12 Footscray 10
U18 boys: Footscray 11 Williamstown 4
U18 girls: Footscray 8 Eastside 6
