A Grace Field brace and stunning Grace Gill goal set up Croatia's 3-1 victory over Gungahlin United at Deakin Stadium on Sunday, keeping the minor premiers unbeaten after nine rounds.

It capped off a stunning season for the club, having also claimed the minor premiership in the men's competition and securing their spot in the grand final with a match in hand.

Not to mention Nik Brozinic's side brought an end to Belconnen United's decade-long tenure on top of the NPLW standings, having won the premiership trophy for the past nine seasons.

"It's a tough feat to go 8-0 especially considering it was a short season with only nine rounds," Brozinic said.

"There's no margin for error, so to come away with the league premiership is an incredible effort. I'm just really proud of the girls and what they've accomplished this year.

"The premiership has been somewhat elusive for us as a club over the last 10 or so years, Belconnen has dominated that."

Although the win over Gungahlin had no impact on the standings or semi-final matches, Brozinic said it was crucial in terms of gaining momentum ahead of next week's play-off.

His words must have resonated because it took just six minutes for Croatia to draw first blood. Alice Churchill sent a beautiful through-ball for Field, who fired it towards the far post to score her fifth goal of the season.

It looked as though goalkeeper Kailey Tonini had the ball in her gloves, but it rolled into the net to put Croatia ahead.

Gungahlin levelled the scores just five minutes later when Croatia defender Rhiannon Fensom mistouched the ball, giving Tianah Miro an opportunity to strike.

Goalkeeper Alexandra Hinson did well to deny the goal, but the effort came to no avail as Elke Aitolu found the bottom-left corner from the deflection.

That was the margin at half-time but Croatia could've had another when Sharon Chao smashed the ball from close range - only to have the shot cleared by Tonini.

The second-half started like a see-saw as neither team could find an advantage and struggled to create chances in attack.

Brozinic shifted Gill from the midfield to striker in a bid to break the deadlock and the move paid dividends with 20 minutes to go.

Krista Hagen turned the ball over in defence and sent a through-ball to Gill, who spun and struck the ball home.

Croatia denied the visitors a chance to respond and extended its lead just two minutes later when Field rounded on Tonini and scored the decider.

Brozinic's side will now shift its attention to next week's clash with Canberra Olympic, which cemented its spot with a 6-0 win over Tuggeranong United on Saturday.

Former Matildas and W-League striker Ash Sykes is expected to return for the semi-final, having been out with injury for two weeks.

"We've made an effort to take things week by week, so we'll approach it no differently to what we have any other game this season so far," Brozinic said.

"I expect Ash will be back next week and on the park playing, I wouldn't expect any different. We've come out on top once before and hopefully we can do so again."

AT A GLANCE

NPLW Canberra round nine: Canberra Croatia 3 (Field 6' 72' Gill 70') bt Gungahlin United 1 (Aitolu 10'), Wagga City Wanderers 5 bt Woden-Weston 0, Canberra Olympic 6 bt Tuggeranong United 0.