Tara Murray
Spring Hills fell just short of claiming its first Victorian Premier League women’s title.
Playing in the division for the first time, Spring Hills finished third after the regular season before making it through to the grand final against Essendon Royals.
Spring Hills had control of the match for most of the game, leading 2-0 with 15 minutes to go.
The Royals found some magic late to score three times to seal the championship with a 3-2 win.
Spring Hills coach Tom Markovski said they were so proud of what they group had been able to achieve this year.
“It was fantastic to make the finals with a young squad,” he said. “We probably should have won the match.
“We were 2-0 up with 15 minutes to go. We had a couple of unlucky mistakes from the youngsters.
“It’s a great achievement and I’m really proud of the girls.”
Markovski said they continued to give the young girls in their program an opportunity at the highest level they could.
They had nine players who are under-17 make their senior debuts this season. Four of them started in the grand final.
“That is really pleasing,” he said. “The girls put in a great effort and it was a great achievement playing against some good experienced girls, some who have come down from the NPL [National Premier League].”
Markovski said heading into the season they had been hoping to finish in the top four and make finals. He said they achieved what they had been hoping for.
“I always play to win,” he said. “My aim was to be in the top four and we achieved that.
“The first six weeks see where ware at and from there we were able to finish third. It’s fantastic for us.
“We had a lot of girls go overseas during the season and still have three away now.”
Spring Hills narrowly missed out on automatic promotion in the NPLW for next season, with the top two teams at the end of the regular season being promoted.
Markovski said they never know what will happen in the off season with other teams.
“If a team pulls out it might open a door for us,” he said. “Our seniors and reserves both finished third and weren’t far off.
“We want to build on that and improve.”
While the women’s side has just finished their season, there’s been changes happening behind the scenes with the men’s program.
The club has announced that John McAloon won’t be continuing on as men’s coach next season after deciding to step down.
The Stallions finished second last in state league 4 west and will be relegated.
“?? said they were restructuring their men’s program and would look to run it similar to how they run the women’s program.
The club is set to announce a new coach and technical director in the next couple of weeks.
