It would surprise absolutely no-one that confidence is high among the Southern United women.
But the team is not getting ahead of itself.It began its national women’s league campaign in style last weekend, clinically dispatching with Central 6-1 at Forrester Park.
However, it faces a more demanding challenge tomorrow.
The team travels to Auckland to face a Northern Lights side coming off a first-round bye.
Traditionally one of the top teams, Northern possesses a strong line-up with several national age-grade representatives.
Having not seen them play yet, it will be a walk into the unknown for Southern.However, a look at last year’s game footage gave a few clues as to what the players might look to do.
Coach Ignacio Sande said the side had a good week at training and despite the 6-1 win last week, there was plenty it had been working on.
"We know Northern are one of the top teams.
"It’s going to be a difficult game and it’s something we have to work out how we move the ball.
"But we have worked during the week trying to solve those challenges and we are confident we can perform well on Sunday."
Sande said the win over Central was "massive" from a confidence perspective.
Southern had entered the season in a good mindset after Dunedin Technical’s success, but it had been encouraging to see that carry over to the national league.
He said while the Tech players had been impressive last week, it was good to see the others join that group and be just as impressive.
Southern had played an exciting game and showed all of its attacking class.It looked to attack down the wings and regularly pushed the ball forward to its dangerous strikers.
Four goals came within the first half hour, including two exceptional set-piece efforts from Shontelle Smith.
Had it not been for the post it could have been six at halftime.
However, while the win meant spirits were high and it had a chance to embed combinations, he did not feel Southern had an advantage over its opponents, Sande said.
"They are good.
"I don’t think they are going to be affected by the fact it is their first game.
"They have the advantage of being able to watch our game and they can review our strengths and work from that."
Southern Utd v Northern
Auckland, tomorrow, noon
Southern United: Jordan Woodward, Kelsey Kennard, Mikaela Hunt, Lena De Ronde, Shontelle Smith, Renee Bacon, Chelsea Whittaker, Kirsty Hayr, Coral Seath, Emily Morison, Lara Wall, Tahlia Roome, Mikayla Gray, Georgia Brown, Jade Middleditch.
Northern Lights: Anna Leat, Arabella Maynard, Kate Loye, Emma Turnbull, Claudia Bunge, Nicole Stratford, Malia Steinmetz, Dayna Stevens, Samantha Tawharu, Maggie Jenkins, Helen Kelderman, Liz Savage, Hannah MacKay-Wright, Laney Strachan, Greer MacIntosh, Emily Couchman.
