1st XI Soccer report – 2015 BAS Grand Final

ST PATRICK’S COLLEGE- 1 was defeated by BALLARAT COLLEGE 2

GOALS – Will McLoughlin

BEST- – – – – Will McLoughlin, Dennis Heinke, Jake Selby, Josh De Voogel, Tom Whitburn, Brayden Baker

Ballarat Clarendon College defeated St Patrick’s College in the 2015 Grand Final and in so doing upset the potential decade of dominance of St Patrick’s in the Senior Soccer BAS competition.

It was BCC’s first outright win since 1999 with other successes being shared premierships. Congratulations are in order as they played a hard physical and defensive game with, at times, brilliant attacking style to win.

The St Patrick’s team tried their hardest to muster a determined counter-attack after going 2 down early in the second half, but it would take until the last five minutes before we scored to give us the briefest opportunity to pull the game back.

The change of venue to the grass BRSF Main Stadium pitch and the heavy rain that fell during the match were both negatives in our quest and a number of the St Pat’s boys stumbled at crucial times, finding their footwear unsuitable for the surface.

The taller and heavier bodies of College players also had a nullifying effect on our usual dominance of possession during the match and our normal silky passing never showed its usual potency during this match.

Early on we struggled to pass forward and, despite controlling the ball defensively, we were not able to make attacking pressure with very few shots on goal in the first half. College got their goal with a sharp piece of rebound to their striker who got past Dennis Heinke with outrageous speed and then was able to get a shot away under pressure from among a number of our players deep in our box.

Our best chance for the half came when we gained a free kick after tough work by Will McLoughlin being brought down from behind after receiving from James King in the centre. Miles Baker hit the free well drawing a keeper save with the rebound offering another chance.

Josh Lynch won a corner and in the scurry Tom Whitburn had an opportunity but couldn’t get power on the shot.

Dennis provided a long ball to Ben Hutchins and he clipped it over the line for Josh De Voogel but the shot missed. Ben took on three defenders and was brought down 30 metres out. James King took the shot -“ curving it nicely but the ball flew a metre over the corner bar.

The game was slipping away early in the second half and typically it was a poor pass from our defence that was picked up by College and they scored during a quick attack off their right wing. The ball was centred to their fast running striker who was able to run uninhibited into the 18 yards and shoot wide of isolated keeper Henry Wines.

We did come into the game from around the 15 minute mark as our central work improved through Leighton Parkinson and Will McLoughlin.

However, especially off the right wing we saw build ups via Jake Selby and Josh De Voogel getting inside their first line of defence and looking threatening.

They were repelled without us getting many shots off but in this stage of the half our defence of Dennis Heinke, Tom Whitburn and Brayden Baker consistently turned their efforts back quickly enough for rebuilding and we had our hopes rise as more forward play eventuated.

Unfortunately our efforts were unlucky or not quite executed correctly and it was only in the last five minutes when our chance came. It started with a stilted attempt of clearing from our last 30 metres of defence but Dennis Heinke made the accurate pass inside and the ball came to Jake Selby on the right wing. Clever play saw the pass out to Josh De Voogel and he cleared their last line running deep into the pocket. His across the body ball was found by our running forward line with one shot, another by Trent Moodley that drew a great save by their keeper and finally Will McLoughlin smashing it in the far left for our goal.

There was urgency in the game for the first time and we threw a number of strong attacks at them but time was against the comeback and College finished deserved 2-1 winners.

Congratulations to the team and many thanks to the tireless service of coach James Robinson who has instilled a love of skill in the game as well as encouraged the self-discipline necessary for each boy to succeed in their future.