Soccer THIS is a year of reckoning for Somerville Eagles. Since winning the State 5 South championship in 2019 the Eagles have clung on tenaciously to their State 4 South status but now face a challenge like never before. As previously mentioned in this round-up State 4 and 5 clubs must finish in the top six of their respective leagues to at least maintain their status. A major reconstruction for 2026 will create State Leagues 6 and 7 and standardise the competition into North-West and South-East divisions at every league level. Clubs finishing from seventh to 10th positions in State…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
SOCCER LANGWARRIN, Mornington, Skye United and Aspendale will fly the flag for local soccer in the next round of the 2025 Australia Cup. And they could be joined by Somerville Eagles who were due to play their Cup tie with North Caulfield last night (Monday).Third-round preliminary ties in the national knockout competition are scheduled for a fortnight’s time, a week before the start of the State League season Langwarrin enters the Cup after the third preliminary round.A young Mornington squad backed up by senior players James Clark, Jacob Brito, Jack McDonald and Halil Reki overcame the challenge of Rosebud 2-0…
Soccer ROSEBUD v Mornington and Peninsula Strikers v Banyule City are the marquee match-ups in this weekend’s second preliminary round of the 2025 Australia Cup. Rosebud and Strikers go in to these sudden-death ties as underdogs but they won’t make life easy for their more-fancied opponents.Many Rosebud players have ties with Mornington having come through the club’s juniors and played in the reserves and in most instances they have moved on in order to gain senior playing time. What an opportunity this clash presents to showcase their talent to their former club. Remarkably 18 of Rosebud’s senior squad have been…
SOCCER ALANA Murphy, 19, last week became the second Langwarrin junior to achieve senior national team recognition when called up to the Matildas squad for the looming SheBelievesCup.The event starts later this week and features teams from host nation US, Japan, Colombia and Australia with matches played in Houston, Glendale and San Diego.First featured in these pages over seven years ago when she was 12 her potential to go all the way in the sport was encapsulated by our headline “Is Alana Murphy a Matilda in waiting?” Back then the pre-teen Murphy named Steph Catley and Sam Kerr as her…
SOCCER PENINSULA Strikers added a State 1 scalp to their pre-season haul with an impressive 2-1 win over Old Scotch at Centenary Park on Saturday. Scott Morrison’s men are flying right now. Figuratively and literally. No local side is as quick and precise in transition with an abundance of extreme pace and rapid-fire ball movement that is breathtaking at times.Strikers dominated most of this contest and you had to keep reminding yourself that they were the State 2 side taking on an opponent of higher status. The versatility at Morrison’s disposal – especially in the attacking third – is scary.…