Box Hill United’s hopes of retaining their title were dashed on Sunday as they bowed out of the finals after a 2-1 defeat by Heidelberg United.
Stacey Papadopoulos’ equaliser just past the hour mark wasn’t enough as Julia Nicolaci scored a brace to send the hosts crashing out.
Following the match, assistant coach Paul Kilpatrick lamented his side’s inability to make the most of their early dominance and put Heidelberg away.
“Probably the first 20-25 minutes we dominated, should’ve been 2 or 3 up if that happens who knows maybe it’s 5-6-7 nil maybe. Didn’t take our chances, second half they caught us on the break and we scored a good goal,” Kilpatrick said.
He did find the positives out of the result however, praising the girls for their efforts despite injuries and the loss of some players through the season.
“On the positive, Box Hill, we lost ten players from the team that won the league last year. So to bring in new players, then we’ve lost I think 4 or 5 in the last 6 weeks we were running a little bit thin there I suppose but credit to the girls, they fought to the end, but yeah just a s*** way to go out really but that’s football,” he said.
With the season ended, Kilpatrick felt the team’s finishing position in the league was the highlight and expected to come back stronger next season.
“I think finishing second was a great achievement. Like I said there’s not many teams who could lose ten players that won the treble last year and finish second,” he said.
“So when you look at that if we can get the girls back out on the paddock there next year and hopefully have a better run with injury we should go well again.”