Ashburton United star Georgia Cloepfil believes the WPL title isn’t out of reach for her team, which sits in second place following a 5-0 victory over Caulfield United on Saturday.
United had to navigate a potential banana peel fixture against the Cobras on the weekend, with the resilient visitors holding the hosts scoreless for the whole first half before succumbing to Ashburton’s might in the second.
“At half-time we knew we didn’t come out as strong as we needed to do, and we were lacking a bit of that hunger in front of goal, even though we had a bunch of chances,” Cloepfil said.
“In the second half we did a lot better to capitalise on our opportunities and put a lot more pressure on them, and that’s our game, making sure we were putting pressure on and winning the 50-50 balls.”
It was a monumental night for the winger, who contributed with four goals and an assist after being shifted to centre forward in a second-half masterstroke by coach Sinisa Cohadzic.
It takes the American’s tally to 15 since joining Ashburton at the beginning of the 2015 season.
“I hope so, it was fun,” she joked when asked about cementing a permanent role as striker.
“Switching me up top was fun, I haven’t played there since college, so that was good.
“I was in the right place at the right time for a couple of those [goals].”
Only two points separate the pack of teams sitting between second and fifth spot in chase of runaway leaders Boroondara Eagles, with four rounds remaining in the home-and-away season.
As a double finals chance remains on the line, Cloepfil believes title glory isn’t out of question, with the team’s focus remaining on winning ever game to give themselves the best chance of prevailing in the finals series.
“It’s about winning now, do or die top three spot,” she said.
“You guys have a weird playoff system where your top three for some reason get two chances.
“We have our eyes on that and winning every game we can and finishing off strongly.”
Second placed Ashburton (37 points) will have to be in top form on Saturday as they host fifth placed Heidelberg (35 points), who can leapfrog the home side with an away victory.