LARISSA Ryan bagged a hat-trick as Mid Coast FC stormed into their third-straight under-14 Herald Women's Premier League grand final on Sunday.
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The Coast led from start to finish on the way to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Merewether United at Lake Macquarie Regional Sporting Facility.
They will now enjoy a weekend off and await the winner of Merewether and Newcastle Olympic.
Coach Brenton Doyle said it was satisfying to see Ryan find the back of the net as it continued her development as a player.
"She works really hard and makes the right choices, brings people into the game and what she is doing is creating space for herself to score goals," he said.
Merewether piled on the early pressure, but Mid Coast's defence - which had only conceded six goals in 14 games - held firm.
It thwarted the hosts' freewheeling attack that had scored 68 goals in 14 regular season matches.
We just kept repelling them and then we settled into the way we want to play and in the end we thoroughly deserved the win.
- Mid Coast FC under-14 WPL coach Brenton Doyle
"We just kept repelling them and then we settled into the way we want to play and in the end we thoroughly deserved the win," Doyle said.
When asked if the side had a preference of who to face in the grand final, Doyle said they had to be confident of beating anyone.
"If Merewether make it to the grand final it will be three in a row against them and they pretty well eat raw meat before they play us," the coach said.
"The crowd are pretty hectic and they really come hard at us."
If Merewether make it to the grand final it will be three in a row against them and they pretty well eat raw meat before they play us.
- Brenton Doyle
In previous years semi-finals have been played on a home and away basis to earn the right to progress to the grand final.
But in a year where the pandemic has played a part in scheduling fixtures, Mid Coast will now have a weekend off.
The challenge now is for the coaching staff to keep their team in a routine by finding an opponent next weekend.
"It will be the first time we've had a week off, but as a coach I want more and the girls will tell me themselves what they didn't do as well as they could," Doyle said.
"I don't care who we play in the grand final; you have to say you're good enough to beat anybody."
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