Defending champion City Highlanders has not been as all-conquering as in previous seasons but they had other ideas.
Momona started the stronger and looked like the more likely side to score. This came to fruition with a well-executed penalty corner, the strike from the top was nicely deflected in by Paige Waddington.
The game settled back into a midfield battle and remained this way for most of the first half. The City strikers, led by Tegan Buchanan and Brooke Eddie, were pushing the Momona defence hard, but they were not able to cause too much trouble. Annabelle Lee and Tessa Buschl were having strong games for Momona and repelling most attacks calmly.
Momona was not able to press home its advantage in the first half any further, though, and as the game moved into the third quarter, the City team started to gain momentum. This culminated in some chances of their own, but after a defensive penalty corner that Momona was unable to score off, quick thinking from City meant a fast outlet ball found Buchanan up the middle, she slipped it to the right hand side and Olivia Allan made no mistake on the post to level the scores.
In the last quarter, Momona started to look a little rattled and repeated the mistakes of its opposition from earlier in the game, not valuing possession and carrying into defenders. City was also unable to capitalise and the game ended 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
In shootout, composure and patience were needed, and despite some quality goalkeeping, the majority of the strikes were finding the net. A great save from Momona Keeper Jaysha Tippins gave it the advantage and Nicole Strawbridge finished the job, scoring with the last attempt, giving Momona its first title in a while, breaking City's streak.
- Matthew West
