A brace from former Matildas star Ashleigh Sykes led Canberra Olympic to a fairytale finish in the NPL Women's first-grade grand final, with a 4-1 victory at Deakin Stadium on Saturday against Belconnen United.
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In what was a re-match of this year's Fed Cup final, Belconnen were unable to get redemption from that defeat, with Olympic adding another trophy to their cabinet.
Nicole Begg's team were simply a class above Scott Conlon's young Belconnen squad.
"There's been some lean years, so it's good to see the 17s, the reserves and first grade all walk away with a grand final trophy," Begg said of the club's success this season.
"There's a few girls who've been here for a few years, and it's a really good reward for them."
Begg's twin sister Sykes was a standout in the season decider, shelving any retirement conversation until the off-season.
"I think I'll make the decision when the season comes around next time," Sykes post-game.
Begg agreed, and said with the quality of goals Sykes scored she "could go for a few more years."
Sykes ranked Olympic's triumph high among her many career highlights that included playing at a World Cup.
"This is pretty special because it's something we've built over a few years," the Canberra United legend said. "We have committee members crying, which is really sweet. This means a lot to the club."
The early stages saw both sides playing well-organised and patient football. Reilly Yuen made her presence known down the left wing for Belconnen and looked most likely to nab an early lead for the underdogs.
But it was Olympic who made the most of their opportunity inside the Blue Devils' half.
A curling corner by Vanessa Ryan put Belconnen goalkeeper Jayla Murphy in a tough position, and in the pack of bodies Talia Backhouse headed in an own-goal.
Within two minutes Olympic extended their lead, with a through-ball by Olivia Gurney feeding Sykes for her 14th goal of the season.
As soon as the goals began to flow, the heavens opened up too, with an incredible downpour of rain through idyllic sunshine making for slippery conditions to end the first half.
Olympic came out firing in the second half with a stunning strike by Gurney from just inside the box rattling the top of the net.
Sykes got her double in the 80th minute after slipping behind the Belconnen defence once again, and though United's Tatum Mazis hit back a minute later to finally get them on the board, Olympic had done more than enough to seal victory.
"We were happy to get here, and we did come in with a lot of confidence," Belconnen United coach Conlon said after the deflating loss.
"But on the day we couldn't produce the quality that's needed in the right moments to win a grand final and struggled with our execution.
"It's great to be able to come here with such a young squad and hopefully there's a few more grand finals to come and we get one of the next ones."
AT A GLANCE
NPL Women's First Grade Grand Final
Canberra Olympic 4 (T Backhouse OG, A Sykes 2, O Gurney) bt Belconnen United 1 (T Mazis)
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