Australia’s diverse and competitive football landscape was confirmed on Tuesday as four different federations had teams advance to the grand finals at the Emerging Matildas Championship in Melbourne.
After NSW had four of the semifinalists across the Under 15 and Under 16 age groups, only one advanced to Wednesday’s finals as two of the playoffs were decided by penalty shootouts.
Queensland White will face NSW Sky in the Under 15 grand final, with Victoria Blue up against Western Australia in the Under 16 showdown.
The Queenslanders prevailed 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a tense battle against NSW Navy finished 1-1 at full-time.
Amity Haynes in the Whites’ goal came up with crucial saves while Isabel Knight, who struck the crossbar during the match, stepped up with the chance to convert the winning penalty. She sent Navy keeper April Thrussell the wrong way, sparking joyous celebrations.
“Words can't explain. We came into this as the underdogs, and we worked so hard for this, and we deserve every single moment of it,” said Knight.
“I was just trusting God, really. I was like, come on, get behind me. And I just had to put it in the back of the net. That's all. I knew it was going in straight away. It was unreal.”
She celebrated with her teammates and Queenslanders from other teams at the tournament.
“I didn't even know where to run to. I was turning around to everyone, just screaming. But I wasn't the one who was the hero. It was our goalkeeper, Amity. I made sure to look at her first.”
As for a final against an impressive NSW Sky, who dispatched Northern NSW 3-0, Knight said: “We've only wanted to come into this winning. And now that we have the chance, we'll just give it all. I reckon we can do anything.”
Lilly Sterjovski, the daughter of Socceroos legend Mile, was among the defeated NSW Navy players, but managed to convert her penalty.
“It's pretty tiring when you're playing game after game, but we kept our energy high, so I think that helped us get all the way to the semis,” said Lilly.
She said the tournament had taught her “to keep your head up because some games we were like 1-0 down and then we came back to win 2-1, so just to keep going.”
Mile, head coach of the Macarthur FC A-League team, was a keen observer, and managed to keep his cool when Lilly was asked if she was a similar player to her dad and responded: “I'd say I'm better, no, I'm joking. I don't know, I think we're pretty similar.”
Mile said he was pleased his daughter and other emerging talent got to experience the tournament.
“I think tournaments really bring the best out of her, and she's stepped up in quite a few of the games leading into the quarters and the semis so I'm very proud of her,” said Mile.
“She's done really well, and the whole team did really well. I must say it's a really well-organised tournament. Great facilities here, and it's a great learning experience for all the girls involved.
“I think she's always had ambitions to play at the highest level, but we as parents just want to guide them and see them happy and whatever makes them happy makes us happy. Obviously, football in the female space has really taken off in recent years. There's a far better pathway now for Lilly than there might have been in previous generations.”
Selena Mifsud led the way again for NSW Sky, scoring twice in the 3-0 win over Northern NSW. The two goals took her to the top of the tournament golden boot standings with nine.
Victoria Blue were the first team to book a place in the U16 grand final, beating NSW Sky 2-0, with Alezia Chrisfield scoring after Sophie Wenk’s high freekick was saved, and Achol Taban wrapping it up late.
“It feels absolutely amazing. I have no words because it was the greatest game I think we've ever played. We just put everything on the pitch,” said Victoria Blue skipper Isabella Matulic.
“It was very hard work. They're a great team, keep you on your toes. They're fast, physically strong.
“I think we can go all the way. We've had a great run so far, and we're just getting better and better each game.
“We've learnt just put everything into each game and be ready to adapt because you never know what they're going to throw at you.”
Western Australia dominated the first half of their semifinal against Capital Football and hit the lead in the 24th minute. After some good interplay on the left from Messaline Mpunga and Milla Butler, Grace Fraser had a shot that was saved by Lacey Pavier-Jones into the path of Piper Dowe, who scored her first goal of the tournament into an empty net.
Butler should have put the West 2-0 up in 36 minutes after the ball fell into her path in the box. She curled her shot just over the bar with the keeper beaten. Having been let off the hook, Capital were back level three minutes later as Clare Brookes turned in a deep corner from Samantha Shea.
WA went into the final five minutes on the attack, and desperate defence from Capital kept out three close-range attempts to send the game into a penalty shootout, where Western Australia prevailed 4-1, converting all their shots. The two Capital players who combined for their equaliser missed their chances – Brookes firing over the bar and Shea having her shot well saved by Daisy McGreadie Cole.
That left Savanna Glavovic to confidently shoot past Adelaide Cains.
“It was a huge opportunity for WA. We've been the underdogs all the way through, so it's nice to show our family how we can do it,” said Gavovic, her voice croaky from all the shouting of the past week.
“I've lost my voice from cheering so much. I just knew I got my girls behind me. I just needed to finish it and get through to tomorrow.”
The players are walking in the footsteps of Matildas stars who have competed at national championships, as superstar Sam Kerr did from Western Australia when she was at school.
“It's always a good self-thought knowing that Matildas came through here and we have a chance to become Matildas,” said Gavovic.
The Emerging Championships have also been an opportunity for referee development, with the FA’s head of referees, Jon Moss, keeping a close eye on the whistle blowers.
“We've got probably our best referees in the country from 16 to 19 years old, they're called the National Referee Academy. It's a new initiative that we set up recently and the idea is we're working on getting that next generation of A-League and international referees and this tournament's a perfect example for them to referee with their peers - because they're similar age but also gives them a taste of tournament football and what it's like to have those high pressure with bigger crowds than they used to,” said the former English Premier League coach.
“The other thing that we've got here today is we've got all our female elite match officials doing the coaching as well so there's a little bit of role play. You'll see them either in the dugouts, coaching at halftime, very much hands-on.
It's great that they've given up the time for free to come and coach the next generation so the refereeing community is embedded in each other and we want to give, the elite referees want to give back to the new cohort and guide them through this experience.”
TOURNAMENT DETAILS
CommBank Emerging Matildas Championships (Girls U15 & U16)
Dates: 9 – 15 April 2026
Location: Home of the Matildas, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria
HOW TO WATCH
KommunityTV is your destination for exclusive live streams of the 2026 CommBank Emerging Championships with News Corp full digital subscribers having exclusive access to watch the action.
Every match will be available to watch live and on demand. Live streams of all fields will be available for each day of the tournament, with replays posted at the end of each day.
FIXTURES & RESULTS
The Tournament Hub has all the competitions and results while the Tournament Guide features all the groups, fixtures and key information.
This article was originally published on football360.com.au
