Western Springs Are Kate Sheppard Cup Champions For 2023
Western Springs AFC found themselves in a bit of a shambles earlier this year as an ongoing dispute between the women’s team and the club board made it into the national media. That whole drama ended up requiring outside mediation to move through. Now that very same women’s team are the Kate Sheppard Cup champions for 2023 and the fact that they won a trophy named after a kiwi pioneer of women’s rights was not lost on anyone.
Credit to both parties there because it does appear like the mediation process was conducted in good faith from both sides, allowing for genuine progress ever since. Including the hiring of Maia Vink as Head of Women’s Football at the club – a former Capital stalwart whose third game as coach of the first team was a cup final against Wellington United and many players that she’s personally coached before. Vink’s presence was the major statement that the previous issues were for the past and she’s already won a national cup final. Can’t fault the impact.
Those Welly Utd Diamonds proved as tough as their nickname, defending expertly throughout before their speedy forwards sparked a second half comeback, tying the game back up with a Jemma Robertson goal (55’) after Sammi Tawharu had previously given Springs a deserved lead (38’). Wellington United had a young team with an average starting line-up age of 20 but many of those players were there two years ago as the Diamonds won the KSC with a 1-0 win over Hamilton Wanderers in the final. Western Springs still boast the bulk of the squad that competed in the 2022 National League final as well as several past Kate Shep winners of their own including Liz Savage who has several golden medals in her collection. The bg game experience was not lacking. However it was a next generation player who decided this one, with 15 year old Ela Jerez coming off the bench to serve up an 89th minute winner...
Cup finals really do produce the most amazing storylines, aye? It wasn’t even a sure thing that Jerez would be available as she’s been named in the NZ U16s squad that’s competing at the Oceania Championships in Tahiti whose first game is scheduled a mere four days after the KSC final. But flexibility was permitted and look what happened. Alas, Wellington Utd didn’t quite get the same grace because they were without both Sarah Alder and Francesca Grange due to a clash with a Futsal Ferns national team training camp. Those players will have made that decision themselves but the clash itself was rough. Alder not only scored the decisive goal in WU’s semi-final win over Eastern Suburbs but she also scored the only goal in the 2021 KSC final victory.
Western Springs picked six players from that 2022 WNL final XI: Lily Jervis, Jaedeci Uluvili, Lily Taitimu, Jess Innes, Sammi Tawharu, and Sofia Garcia. They also had a few more returning players on the bench. For them it was a 4-3-3 formation. Mickey Mitchell in goal. Jervis and Uluvili as central defenders with Tiana Hill on the right and Megan Lee on the left. Midfield of Taitimu and Innes with Liz Savage in front of them. Garcia wide left. Tawharu through the middle. And 2022 U17 World Cup representative Lara Colpi wide right (Colpi was also part of the U19s who stormed through Oceania qualifying a few months ago). Extra shout out to Tiana Hill as she was a starter for Hamilton Wanderers when they lost to Welly Utd – call this one Tiana’s Revenge.
For Wellington United, there were five players in common from that 2021 KSC title. Might’ve been seven if Grange and Alder were available. Those players were: Molly Simons, Hope Gilchrist, Zoe Barrott, Danielle Ohlsson, and Pepi Olliver-Bell. The two Jemma’s, Catherwood and Robertson, started this one after featuring off the bench in the other one (which was actually played in early 2022 due to covid postponements). Lots of continuity despite their youth.
Guillermo Schiltenwolf set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 shape with Simons in goal, Gilchrist and Barrott at CB, Lilian Davies at right back with Catherwood on the left, the midfield was Sammi Preval and former Western Springs player Natalie Brook, then Natalie Olson on the left and Dani Ohlsson on the right with Olliver-Bell playing behind Robertson up front. Two Natalies and two Jemmas. Two phonetic Olson/Ohlsson’s too.
Western Springs tried to set a tone from kickoff by getting the ball towards their mobile front three as quickly as they could, with one lob over the top almost breaking for Tawharu after a Barrott slip. Yet the tone that really resonated came from Liz Savage pushing through the midfield and covering all sorts of turf. She squared one for Garcia who poked wide after sneaking around her marker. The early impetus was very much being supplied by Western Springs.
But the Diamonds didn’t panic. They remained patient at the back with their central defenders getting lots of touches for as they tried to build up from deep. That strategy dragged the game into a stalemate. Springs needed to commit more to their press instead of sitting in a sort-of high block, not becoming active until the ball left the CB’s feet. It did keep United stuck in their own half but the tempo was too slow to break them down and that issue was up to Western Springs to solve. Wellington United were happy with it being scrappy.
Midway through the half Molly Simons was able to slide out and stop Tawharu from getting around her but Tawharu stayed with it and her cross towards Garcia probably should’ve led to more than a goal kick. Then came some pressing success as Savage stole one off Barrott, picked up a return ball from Tawharu, and thumped a shot off the post. Closest we’d come yet. That one was given as a corner kick so perhaps it was actually a killer save from Simons. Those Savage shots soon became a common sight as Western Springs turned up the heat.
That all led to Tawharu’s goal on 38’. Clever angled run to stay onside, taking advantage of the fullback being out of position, and a lovely little pass from Lara Colpi to set her up. Tawharu picked her spot with only the keeper to beat and there ya go, mate. 1-0 to Western Springs. It had most definitely been coming.
WSAFC’s defensive line was creeping higher and higher, with only a few hints that the pace of Wellington United could punish them with their pace and skill. United just couldn’t get out. Springs were marching their whole team closer to the Diamonds’ goal as though they were playing statues or something. Every time you peeked they’d inched forward a little further. Tiana Hill gave it a few highlights with her overlapping fullback efforts. Savage kept unleashing shot attempts – effectively playing as a second striker which blocked off the passing options for those WU defenders.
It was 1-0 at half-time and it could’ve been a few more but you have to credit Gilchrist and Barrott at the back for keeping United in the contest. They were both strong and composed and deadly accurate with a tackle... of no surprise to anyone who’s watched them play before. And when you’re only one goal down then a couple of half-time adjustments can do absolute wonders.
Wellington United had hardly fired a shot in the first forty-five but they soon got on a roll in the second stanza. Olliver-Bell flicked a header on target that was saved by Mitchell. Then POB set up Olson who forced a save. Next came Ohlsson with some zip on the right. Her cross was contested by Olson and Mitchell and, to be honest, probably should’ve been whistled as a foul by Olson on the keeper but it wasn’t and Jemma Robertson was there to flip it over the line for 1-1. 54 minutes gone. The ref and lino did discuss the foul, which Springs defenders were adamant about, but eventually decided to let the goal stand. Maybe there was some luck there but the goal did come after a sustained ten minute spell of pressure from Welly Utd.
Western Springs responded with cruel intent. Savage intent, you could say. Liz Savage had a shot pushed away. Both teams went to their benches with Liv Deane (WU) and Celia Mayo (WS) brought on. Savage touched one on target from a Colpi cross but without any power. Barrott and Gilchrist remained immense in their challenges. This thing had turned into a proper cup final and with Wellington United now offering some counter attacking punch it had the potential to spin dizzyingly in either direction.
Savage had a couple more efforts for WS. Ohlsson had one blocked and Brook put one over for WS. Tiana Hill rattled the post with a great shot after working her own space in the area. Impressive from the 23yo fullback who was part of the 2018 U20 World Cup squad alongside her Springs teammate Sammi Tawharu. Tawharu, by the way, was subbed off with quarter of an hour to go. She’s missed some time due to concussion this year so on came young Ela Jerez, a Whangarei prospect picked up by Western Springs a year or two ago... and the rest is history.
There was a shout for handball by Springs but that was too harsh against Barrott for a point-blank touch. Nothing given. Colpi moved into the middle after Jerez came on and having already set up the first goal she nearly scored herself when a half-clearance fell her way. Colpi struck it on target but didn’t quite hit the corners. Simple save. Time was running out. Then Ela Jerez gave it a burst of pace and a slick near-post finish and Western Springs had that 89th minute goal for the lead. Courtesy of another Lara Colpi assist, of course.
Kitty Jacob came on to close things out for WSAFC. Phoebe Gray and Olive Lynch-Gerrard had been thrown out there in an earlier WU roll of the dice. Jerez almost set up Garcia for a clincher in stoppage time but Molly Simons took care of that. There was no last chance for the Diamonds. Western Springs claimed the 2023 Kate Sheppard Cup with a 2-1 victory. Captain and centre-back Lily Jervis was awarded the Maia Jackman Trophy - although it could just as easily have gone to Lara Colpi or Liz Savage.
Really gutsy performance from Wellington United, particularly with their clinging defence, but they were outnumbered in the midfield by a very classy unit and perhaps just didn’t have the quality to push through that on a very big pitch. There was danger on offer with the individual ability of their attackers but, outside of the first ten minutes of the second half, that lot simply didn’t get enough ball. Let’s be fair though, that was because of how well Western Springs patrolled those areas rather than anything that the Diamonds did wrong. These two teams will meet again soon in the National League so we’ll see what adjustments are made then.
Western Springs last won this title back in 2007 when they beat Glenfield Rovers 2-1 at Seddon Fields (which is their own home ground). Nicky Smith scored both goals and won the player of the day award that’s now named after her then teammate Maia Jackman. Cilla Duncan played that game too... as did a 14 year old Rosie White. Incredibly, the WSAFC folks managed to whip up a VHS transfer of some ancient Sky Sport highlights of that game...
The game has come a long way since then. Now the trophy’s big enough to drink out of...
The better team won and the better team was Western Springs. They controlled the first half and probably should’ve scored more than they did. A sloppy start to the second meant they soon had to start all over but they didn’t flinch, rallying as a champion team ought to and eventually getting their reward. This team has had their adversities this year but they’ve come through that stronger and, with Maia Vink so early in her tenure, there’s every reason to think there’s still room to improve when the National League gets underway soon. That’s not for a couple of weeks though. For now there’s still plenty of time for more chuggs from that shiny Kate Shep receptacle (no doubt Auntie Kate would approve).
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