LV Express
By JOSH HANRAHAN*

A SCORELINE of 191-1 would be handy on the cricket pitch but, incredibly, the Churchill United women's soccer team achieved that tally on the soccer field this season.

The Rams' undefeated season, and differential of 190 goals, saw them claim all three Gippsland Soccer League trophies for a second consecutive year.

With a total of 70 victories from 70 games and a positive goal difference of 562 over the past three years, the team finished this season with a thumping 5-0 grand final victory over Tyers.

Churchill captain Mary Corponi said the key to continued success walked in to the club three years ago.

"Our coach Adrian Huizer; he started coaching us three years ago and since he's started coaching us we haven't lost," Corponi said.

Given their dominance the Rams could be forgiven for becoming complacent, however Corponi said preventing that had been a focus.

"That's something that Adrian has always instilled in us, he's always pushing us to improve," Corponi said.

"There's always teams that want to get better and with other teams getting better, we want to get better as well."

Churchill's collective brilliance was underscored by extraordinary individual performances.

Striker Molly Emond took home the golden boot award after topping the league's goal scoring charts with 60 regular season goals and 67 overall.

Her enormous tally placed her in the top three scorers throughout Australia for both male and female competitions.

The tight knit squad is tied together by family, with two mother and daughter combinations in the team.

"We've got a couple of mother and daughter combinations, which brings that sense of bonding and respect within the group," Corponi said.

As for next year's goals, Corponi hoped her side would continue to excel and make it four in a row.

"The highlight was going through our third season undefeated... we had the pressure of wanting to go through undefeated, so we had relief and excitement at the same time," Corponi said.

"The difficulty is maintaining the standard that's been set, but we really just go out there to have fun and have a kick."

* Josh Hanrahan is a Monash University student.