The Leeuwin Naturaliste Junior soccer cup finals season windup was on last week at the newly revamped Dunsborough playing fields and was the culmination of a fantastic season of soccer played by (total number in association) kids from ages 5-18 years old.

The weather turned on the sun for the event and the good weather made for some impressive games, showcasing the depth of talent within the region.

The first game to be played was the under 15’s and it set the pace for the rest of the day.

It was Margaret River Striker’s v Mackillop Storm .

The strikers had many chances at the first half but failed to capitalize and Storm over run them to the tune of 5-2, the score line did not reflect the effort Margaret River put in through the season, as this was the first game this year they have lost.

Next was the under 13’s champions, the Capel Wolves v Busselton Sharks, a very close game that was tied for most of the game, Spectators relished the tussle with a lot of cheering and encouragement from the sidelines.

Read more: LNJSA Cup Finals A great Event

Dunsborough Chargers  4 v Vasse United 2  

Vasse United had gone through the league season undefeated. Dunsborough Chargers, after an indifferent first half of the season, improved during the second half, and by the time of the Grand Final had beaten all the other teams in the league except Vasse United. So the stage was set.

The battle of the giants: Would Vasse prevail and remain unbeaten throughout the season? Or could the Chargers do what no other team had done this season, beat Vasse and in so doing, lift the cup? The weather was perfect, the Dunsborough ground was in good condition and a sizeable crowd gave the occasion a carnival atmosphere.

The game started with both teams unwilling to give an inch. It was end to end stuff, with Dunsborough striking first. James Black found himself on the right in space and knocked in a pin-point cross that a soaring Tim Nigg headed firmly in to put Dunsborough 1-0 up. This rocked Vasse somewhat, but they didn’t take long to recover their composure, and were soon testing the Dunsborough defence with through balls from their midfield, superbly led by Shea Hayley.

Read more: Dunsborough Achieve Cup Success

Congratulations to all teams who competed in the LNJSA 2011 Season.

Congratulations to all teams who competed in the Knock Out Cup Finals.

LNJSA Knock-Out Cup Semi-Final Round Robin
Dunsborough Chargers 3 def Margaret River AllStars 0

The AllStars travelled to Busselton with confidence after having beaten both Cup opponents this season. The team missed fast winger Aaron Locke and midfielder Lewis Hayes. The game was played on the superb Churchill Park pitch but strong westerly’s and threatening heavy clouds dampened the spirits.

The team knew that the first game would be the decider in this round robin cup tournament and the focus was very much on countering Dunsborough’s forwards.

The Margaret River team however lost the toss and had to face the wind in the first half. Dunsborough combined beautifully, applying constant pressure onto the team in yellow.

The response from the AllStars was nervous, individual attempts that became increasingly futile. A long ball by Dunsborough opened the scoring in the 11th minute. Cade Thompson grabbed the ball only for it to be pushed out of his hands. Liam Shanahan came too late to stop the Dunsborough forward from kicking the loose ball into the back of the net.

Read more: AllStars ' Season Comes To An End

Busselton Redbacks 0 v Margaret River Strikers 3

On a Very windy morning in Busselton the undefeated Strikers played their arch rivals in a knockout cup Semi final.

From the first whistle and kicking with a very strong breeze, the Strikers dominated the opening few minutes and a lapse of concentration by the Redbacks Goal Keeper, saw Kelby Guthrie Phelps pounce and open the scoring.

The second goal was really high quality soccer as a quick throw in by Josh Brown caught the defence unawares , a superb cross by Ryner Koster saw Kia Bako rise and put a superb header into the net. Another well taken goal by Kia saw the half time score 3-0.

The Strikers knew this game was far from over as the wind was becoming stronger, but as usual the strong defence and great team work was the difference between the two teams and they saw the game out without any change to the score line.

Best players on the day were Sam Berridge , Kade Bougoure, Gabriel Abbott and Ryner Koster.

Cornerstone Titans V Margaret River Raiders

Well here it was, the last game of the season. Some say it goes too long but all of a sudden it’s over. Raiders travelled to Busselton to play Cornerstone it what would be a tight affair.

No Taj Thomas meant for a bit of a team shuffle. Liam Matto took charge between the sticks in the first half ,doing a great job in the process.

The Raiders  kept the pressure on Cornerstone with solid battles in the midfield from Tom Leighton, Jykia River & Alice Atkinson  along with Abby Slater continually making space on the right.

The Raiders were  finding it hard to break down the Cornestone defence .Jasper Siesun made numerous runs down the left sending in some solid crosses using  Aisha  Atkinson well in the forward line .

Read more: Raiders finish season on a high note

Margaret River AllStars 3 def Busselton United 2

The last game of the 2011 league season was played in brilliant spring sunshine, and for only the third time this year the team was complete. Preparation for this silver medal decider was not ideal with both training sessions needed to be cancelled due to illness to the coach.

The teams were full of contrasts: the full Margaret River squad faced a depleted Busselton team of nine players and an attacking home side met defensive-minded visitors. An all predictable outcome therefore? While game statistics were overwhelmingly in favor of the AllStars, efficiency was Busselton’s game.

From only four shots on target, they put two into the back of Cade Thompson’s net. Margaret River recorded 26 shots and scored three times. The AllStars dominated but struggled to find a way through, and Busselton waited for the opportunity to expose River’s backline. All goals came in the second half.

Read more: Crackerjack Encounter Between Youth Giants

YLB’s  VASSE  UNITED  3 V GMAS  1 

The last game of the final round was a casual affair to end season 2011 with Vasse claiming victory over GMAS.  The glorious weather allowed spectators to bask in the sun, and the relaxed nature of the day seemed to infiltrate players on the pitch, who didn’t seem particularly concerned about the outcome of this match.

Vasse scored  twice in the first half, courtesy of Dylan McGregor.  GMAS also had opportunities, one of which was seized and well executed with a clever goal to Luka Cluff.  The other was a penalty chance, but Vasse goal keeper Joel Fraser denied the opposition when he saved the attempt.

The second half was much the same, lacking ferocity, but without the goals.  GMAS had a few good attacking moves, but in the end Vasse just did enough to keep them at bay.  Vasse did add one more goal late in the half, when Ben Fish charged forward and the split second timing was on his side to beat the keeper and seal the match.  Fish also picked up the Sports Power Player of the Day Award for his efforts.

Margaret River Strikers 4 v Dunsborough 0

After playing each other last week in the last league game of the season, both teams were drawn again to play each other in the first round of the Knockout cup. As this suggests if you get beat you can hang up your boots for the summer and your season is over, this type of format always brings out thrilling contests and this game was no exception.

The score line suggest a comfortable win but this was a fiercely contested game, and hung in the balance until the final few minutes, the difference being the more polished game of the undefeated Strikers, in fact it took until late in the first half for the first goal to be scored by the goal scoring machine Kia Bako, who was to score another hat trick.

Read more: Margaret River Strikers Progress In Cup

Margaret River Power 2 v St. Joes 5

Margaret River Power hosted St. Joes for the first round of the Knock-out Cup competition and the setting couldn’t have been better. Both teams had good reason to feel confident going into this fixture on the back of recent solid performances in the League.

The Power had the better of the early play and once again showed great patience in building their attack. Conor Heydon had a great chance early but was unlucky not to find the target. Soon afterwards though the crowd welcomed back from his 2 month break Luca Marill when he calmly steered a cross into the back of the net to put the Power ahead.

St. Joes responded almost immediately with a great breakaway and the shot left Tyron Bradshaw in goals with little hope of stopping the equalizer. 

Read more: Margaret Rover Power Exit Cup On A High

MR AllStars 4 def Dunsborough Chargers 2

The AllStars travelled to Dunsborough for this decisive match without right wingers Aaron Locke and Jordan Stanbury and midfielder Oscar Howse. This was one of the most exciting matches of this season where highlight followed highlight.

Margaret River started strong, but Dunsborough came back strongly towards the end of the first half. The second half featured all goals and an entertaining end-to-end match that was finally decided by superior fitness and willpower of the AllStars.

The team in yellow took control from kick-off, recording several good moves and shots on target. The best one came in the 7th minute from Henry Rogers’ crossed to unmarked Mishka Marzohl. His shot just missed the goal. Mehdi Balkhi and the ever present Jake Graebner-Bond had more superb scoring opportunities.

It took Dunsborough 13 minutes to have a shot at Cade Thompson in Margaret River’s goal. They found Cade in fantastic form. In the 25th minute he deflected a shot, jumped and fisted away the rebound with Benjamin Smith finally cleared the ball from the line. Dunsborough was closer to the first goal at this stage of the game.

Read more: AllStars Win Game Of Highlights

Vasse United 3 V Busselton United 1

After last week’s debacle, Vasse regained some form to comfortably claim a win against a rejuvenated Busselton outfit.

There was some good football produced by both teams, but the finish was better for Vasse on this occasion.  Shea Hayley opened the scoring from a free kick superbly weighted with the wind at his back, giving the Busselton keeper no chance.  Fast paced Dylan McGregor finished a lovely chipped pass from Mike Newell to send Vasse to the break 2 goals clear.

The addition of youngster Chris Massey to the Busselton squad gave Vasse some food for thought, and he proved a handful for the black and white backline when he pushed forward.  Vasse were also still threatening in their attacking zone and McGregor made the most of his opportunities when the ball fell to him, threading the needle once more.  Eventually Busselton also claimed a reward for their hard work when the ball found the back of the net, and were unlucky not to score on several other occasions.

The Sports Power Player of the Day for Vasse was awarded to Mitch Monck who did a tower of work defensively.

Dunsborough 0 v Margaret River Strikers 4

Margaret River travelled to Dunsborough on Saturday with the league title already won the task was to finish the season off undefeated.

Dunsborough knew a win would clinch them the runners up medal, so there was plenty at stake.

The hosts started the game at a frantic pace which caught the strikers hopping and the defense was put under pressure, but as usual they held firm and slowly the strikers got on top and started to pepper the goals.

Awell taken goal by Ryner Koster put the Strikers in the lead and then a great strike by Jesse Martin extended the lead and a third by Kia Bako put them three up at half time.

Read more: Margaret River Finish Season Undefeated

Geographe Bay Seasiders- 0 v Margaret River Power- 1

Last Saturday saw the last round of the league played out in gritty style at Busselton’s Barnard Park. The hosts needing only a draw to win the league from the Angels, who had lost their final fixture in the preceding game, must have felt quietly confident as they have ridden on the back of a huge goal difference that most clubs could only dream of.

When these teams last met in was M/R taking the honours and we were not fazed by the task on this day. If it were a draw we would have finished in fourth. Unable to finish second the Power were keen to hold onto third place so nothing less than a win was acceptable.

As expected both teams were solid in defence and busy in attack but chances were hard to come by. Both midfields were competing hard, cancelling one another out so the trend was to play wide and try and build a chance. The Power, with a slight wind advantage were inching out the best chances and when a hard running Kai Emslie ran on to a great through ball from Creed McKinon the crowd held its’ breathe to see what this novice player could produce.

Read more: Best Defence In The League Holds On