The Monaro Panthers under-17 girls team has one of the most formidable forward lines of the Kanga Cup, with two of its strikers, Sophie Bui and Lauren Harper, reigning players of the tournament from last year’s cup.
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Harper played under 19s in 2013 at the age of just 16, scoring seven goals in the tournament, as the team finished runners-up in the U19 Cup.
This year, the Panthers combined its under-16s and under-19s Premier League teams, pairing Harper, now 17, with 15-year-old striker Bui.
Bui was named player of the tournament in her division for the past two years at the Kanga Cup, and on Friday will be pressing to make it three in a row when the Panthers take on the Gwandalan Cobras from the NSW Central Coast in the grand final.
“Both of them have been well-marked … but they’ve both got amongst the goals,” coach Tilly Carbone said of their campaign so far.
“They’ve both done very well, particularly Sophie Bui – she had an outstanding start to the week, [on Wednesday] I think a little bit of fatigue was setting in, but [on Thursday] she bounced back and got the winning goal for us with about four minutes to go," Carbone said.
Bui's goal sealed a remarkable comeback for the Panthers, who were down 2-0 early in the semi-final before coming through with a 3-2 win.
“My team is a really strong team and we actually deserve to win this thing,” Bui said.
“We only had one training – I think it was two days before our first game – so we haven’t really known each other, half of us are from one team, half of us are from another team and we sort of just bonded and now we work really well together.”
The Panthers’ final pool match was against the Cobras, losing 2-1, but Carbone believes the tables will turn in Friday’s grand final.
“They beat us in our pool game, although we played a lot better; we created a lot of opportunities but we just couldn’t get past the keeper – but tomorrow the girls are confident we can turn it around,” he said.
