All Saints College Maitland were pushed all the way and had to rely on three second-half goals to progress past Port Macquarie's MacKillop College on Wednesday (August 10).
Penny Clarke found the back of the net twice - one of which included a curling free-kick - which catapulted the Maitland school to a 3-2 win and into the Bill Turner Trophy round-of-16.
Ashleigh Vetter's shot from outside the penalty area eight minutes from full-time rebounded off the crossbar and into the back of the MacKillop goalkeeper, before the ball settled in the back of the net.
It proved the difference, but was no less than the visitors deserved.
All Saints co-coach Paul Cornwall admitted they didn't have it all their own way and had to come back from a goal down at halftime to achieve a school first.
"[MacKillop] are the highest-quality team we've come up against this year and we've played nearly 20 games," he said.
"We certainly had to prove we can come from behind and achieve a victory because it's the first time we've had to do it.
"I can't take anything away from the Port Macquarie girls; they were absolutely sensational."
MacKillop took a one-goal lead into the break courtesy of a classy Arliah Morris strike, although All Saints had numerous chances to equalise and probably should have led.
Cornwall said the message he delivered at halftime was simple - stay patient.
"We had umpteen chances in the first half and it was just a matter of taking our time and being patient and allowing the game to come to us," he said.
"It's different to what we normally would do; we're normally very clinical in front of goals."
MacKillop coach Erin Denham said she was proud of the performance of her side and conceded fatigue played a part in the second half.
Morris equalised with 12-and-a-half minutes to go before their luck ran out.
"I thought we were in control in the first half of the game and unfortunately a little bit of fatigue set in during the second half and the opposition were good enough to strike back," she said.
"We came up against a team that hasn't been challenged in five rounds of football and were posting score lines of nine-plus goals, so we knew we were in for a tight contest.
"We're a good-quality, young team and a lot of them are in year seven so they've got a lot of soccer in them for the next couple of years as a team. It's exciting so we're looking forward to it."
The one-goal win allowed All Saints to achieve a goal they had set back in February before the competition kicked off.
"This is the first time we've gone into the round of 16," Cornwall said.
"We sat down at the start of the year and set a goal for our team that we all wanted to get to Coffs, so this game meant a lot to win it.
"The girls achieved what they had set out to do so there's going to be a lot of noise on the bus on the way home knowing they have done what they set out to do as a team."
