TRINITY College’s open women’s football team is into the semi-finals of the South Australian schools’ knockout competition after beating Henley recently.
The team will face Mercedes College later this month in the semi-final, and coach Nathan McGrath said the girls are hungry to get payback for last year’s loss.
“It feels great (to make the semi-final), we’ve made it to this stage the past two seasons, but this year feels like our year and hopefully we can take the next step to the grand final,” he said.
“Mercedes beat us by less than a goal last year and went on to win the whole thing.
“We expect to win this time, we were very close to beating them in atrocious conditions last year; a better ground and better conditions would suit our game style.”
Trinity’s side is in division 1A of the competition, and McGrath said the support the players have had has been “fantastic”.
“We have around 40 girls vying for a place in the senior side and we now have teams running in the earlier years so hopefully the production line will see us remain successful in the future,” he said.
“Trinity was one of the first schools to have a girls team, we’ve been going for four years now and it’s getting stronger every year.
“So many of our girls then go on to play for the local clubs and we are very proud of that achievement.
“Any parents worried about their daughters playing footy should be more worried that their daughters don’t play footy.”
Trinity has knocked off a few country and local teams to get to the semi-finals, and McGrath said some players have starred in recent games.
“Obviously, it’s very much a team effort, but three clear standouts for us have been Chantelle Pickett, Emma Raschella and Kelsi Wing,” he said.
“Chantelle is a bulldog of an inside mid who doesn’t shirk a contest.
“Emma is our experienced half back flanker who sets up many of our plays and Kelsi is the centrehalf-back that the opposition just can’t seem to get past; she just seems to appear wherever the ball has been sent in.