MATER Dei Catholic College's Tia Lyons confirmed herself as her team's 'golden girl' after her strike late in extra time gave her side a 1-0 win Shipard Shield final win over a determined The Riverina Anglican College on Wednesday night.
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It was Mater Dei's seventh title in eight years and their third on the trot but TRAC, playing in their first-ever final, held on doggedly thanks mainly to a superb performance from goalkeeper Bonny McKean.
McKean was deservedly named player of the match after several great saves kept her side in the game.
But a brilliant through ball from Hannah Stevens with about one minute left in extra time gave Lyons a close range chance, and she made no mistake.
The Mater Dei skipper also scored a golden goal in their semi final win over Wagga High School.
"It feels good to get a win after some strong competition the whole game," Lyons said.
"We were hoping we could avoid that (penalty shootout) and win the game with our strength, which is our teamwork on the field.
"It was a great ball through (from Stevens) and really well calculated, it's pretty annoying I couldn't do it (score) earlier in the game."
McKean said she would have fancied herself to get her side home had the match gone to a penalty shootout.
"I think it was the last 40 seconds and they unfortunately scored. We're really proud and happy, we've never been here (in the final) before as a team, she said.
"Our girls were just unlucky. A lot of them are in year seven, hopefully we can come back next year and have another go."
TRAC were the suprise packets of the competition, having played their way into a maiden final by winning Pool B, meaning they will move to Pool A next year.
Mater Dei had a big number of chances to seal the result in the one hour of regulation time, including a Brandy Nicholson strike which hit the cross in the 12th minute.
Just before halftime Molly Surian hit her shot just wide of the near post after a through ball put her one-on-one with the keeper.
Wagga High School will remain in Pool A next year after taking out a third place playoff over Kooringal 4-3.
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