10 Aug 2022
On Tuesday 26 July, Smith's Hill played Mulwaree High School in the South Coast Final of the 2022 State Cup soccer competition.
The South Coast Final is contested between high schools bordering southern Sydney, down through the Illawarra, Southern Highlands and Tablelands, and South Coast all the way to the Victorian border with Eden High School the team furthest south. Once again, it was the synthetic pitch of Ian McLennan Park being the venue of choice, as rain played havoc with the playing fields in the Goulburn area.
Smith's Hill started the brighter of the two teams as the boys tried to find their mojo early. Mulwaree were intent on flooding the centre of the pitch with a high-paced pressing game, although early credit must go to Smith's Hill as they kept calm and worked the ball across the park. On the sixth minute, Kai Kubota found himself at the back post to knock a ball in from a corner and give our boys the lead. Just six minutes later, Luke Palermo added our second, with a curling corner kick that squeezed between the sticks, to give our boys a 2-0 lead.
Mulwaree showed some fight and a pacey run, followed by a good finish seeing them make a match of it with 15 minutes left in the first half. The score now 2-1 but the ever-dangerous Sebastian Stanojevic had other ideas when he blasted our third goal past a packed 18-yard box, as Mulwaree were defending a free kick. Down on the score board at 3-1, Mulwaree once again found a way tumbling the ball over the line, following some uninspired Smith’s Hill defending and goal keeping. It was goals-a-plenty in the first half with Smith's Hill leading 3-2 at the break.
Coach Elvis Necovski demanded more from the boys in the second half and Smith Hill diligently took heed, starving Mulwaree of the ball and dominating possession. It took William Aston just 10 minutes after the break to record his first of the game as he worked hard for a well-deserved goal. Adam Kairis came alive in the second half working tirelessly down the right flank, from the full back position, as he recorded a great assist for Sami Benton who scored his first goal for the afternoon. This seemed to spur Benton into goal scoring action and two minutes later he produced a superb run and power finish giving Smith's Hill a 6-2 lead and all but sealing the victory.
Full credit across the park, as we dominated the second half, our defenders and midfielders worked tirelessly to win the ball back and drive the team forward at every opportunity. Euan Reidy produced a stunning save late in the match to keep a second half clean sheet, which seemed to spur William Aston as he went down the other end to score his second and give Smith's Hill a cherry on top, the final score 7-2, with only minutes left on the clock.
Congratulations team! South Coast Final winners is a wonderful achievement making this our school’s third time as champions. The boys travel to Dubbo next to play in the quarter finals of the 2022 State Cup. Best of luck in the coming match!
Team list: Euan Riedy, Nixon Nourie, Kai Kubota, Adam Kairis, Samuel Palermo, Luke Palermo, Louis Miller-Tamsitt, Sebastian Stanojevic, Alexander De Santis, Sami Benten, William Aston, Dylan Dimoski, Adrian Morgan, Oscar Lovrek, Ted Kelly
Teacher: Lisa Gass
Coach: Elvis Necovski