A brilliant week for the Wellington Phoenix academy, with both sides in action lifting trophies.
The women’s reserves faced Waterside Karori in the Kate Sheppard Cup quarterfinal, a match that doubled as the Kelly Cup final, for the best performing team from the Capital Football competitions.
And both silverware and progression to the semifinal were secured emphatically with a 4-1 win at Wakefield Park.
Isla Cleall-Harding opened the scoring with a well-taken penalty after Poppy O’Brien had been taken out while rounding the ‘keeper.
A scramble in the box then led to Ela Jerez tapping home, before a Karori counter attack left it poised 2-1 at the break.
The second half saw the Nix pull away, with two substitutes rounding out the scoreline.
Amber de Wit hammered home from the top of the box, before Lily Brazendale pounced on her own rebound to put some gloss on the scoreline.
After the game, the Nix were awarded the Kelly Cup trophy for the very first time. They will learn their semifinal opponents on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier in the week, the U15 boys academy side had triumphed in the Christchurch International Cup, one of the premier youth football tournaments in New Zealand.
Photo credit: Thomas Bird
A dominant run saw the Phoenix score 32 times and concede just once across six matches, eventually beating Fencibles United 3-1 in the final.
They also triumphed over Palmerston North United, Nomads United, Melville United, Cashmere Technical, and Northland FC on their way to the decider.
The goalscorers in the final were Ben Trenberth, who won tournament MVP, and Jack Clegg, who nabbed a brace to secure the tournament golden boot with nine strikes.
Remarkably, the Nix also had three other players in the top ten scorers for the competition.
Trenberth wasn’t far behind in third place with seven goals in the tournament, while Sam Kiore netted six times and Harry Grosso bagged four.
School holidays meant that the other academy sides had the weekend off.
This weekend, the men’s reserves and U18s both play host to Miramar Rangers, while the women’s reserves and U18s await the vist of Wellington Olympic and Victoria University respectively.
The U16 boys play Greytown, the U16 girls face Upper Hutt City, and both U15 and U14 boys travel to Te Kotahitanga.
Cover photo credit: Cam McIntosh/Photomac
