THE Monaro Panthers Women's Premier League under 16s side fell agonisingly short of bringing the club's third piece of silverware home, going down to Belconnen 4-3 in extra time at McKellar Park last Sunday.
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It was a very hard loss to take according to coach Tilly Carbone, after his girls lead 3-1 with just four minutes remaining until full time.
But despite the emotional loss, he said there were a number of players who had impressed him throughout their solid season, in which they had finished second on the ladder, and also being the coach of the first grade Premier League side, said he planned on bringing them up the grades next season.
"There's some talented players in the under 16s squad," Carbone said.
"Sophie Bui is one of them. She was our centre-forward, and she won the golden boot award having scored the most goals [25], so she was impressive."
"There's also the Trinick sisters in Emily and Caitlin. They're ones to watch out for in the future, and there's Georgia Rood who's very solid in defence."
"Samantha Stinziani, our number one, is a very classy player, so there are a lot of positives going forward."
Carbone said he planned to keep coaching the girls in the future, but admitted if any other suitable coaches came knocking on the door, he would give them the under 16s to focus on first grade.
On the grand final, he said it was heartbreaking seeing what looked like a grand final win disappear.
"We went into extra time a little deflated. We thought we had it," Carbone said.
"It really was a devastating loss. We had it, and it got away from us, but that's the drama of football."
