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9/11/97
“A Team” Complete Unbeaten Season
by Jeremy Ruane
The Auckland women’s soccer team recorded a hard-fought 2-1 victory over South Korea B at Bill McKinlay Park on November 9, 1997, in the final game of the visitors’ three-match tour.
Pernille Andersen opened the scoring in the fourth minute. She latched onto an Amanda Crawford through ball and didn’t hesitate in accepting the scoring invitation offered by Soy Yun Se, the Korean goalkeeper, whose sluggishness in coming off her line gave Auckland’s Player of the Year over half the target to aim at as she bore down on goal.
Three minutes later, a mistake by Jane Simpson allowed Kim Un Han to spare her team-mate’s blushes. She fired in a cross-shot from the right which, with the wind behind it, completely deceived Yvonne Vale in Auckland’s goal - 1-1.
The Koreans pressed forward, taking full advantage of the Auckland team’s rustiness - a couple of players in the “A Team”’s opening line-up weren’t exactly doing themselves justice - and only Vale’s despairing dive to keep out Han Jin Soo’s twentieth minute effort ensured parity.
After Andersen had created an opening out of nothing, only to find retreating Korean defenders leading the charge to meet her pull-back from the byline after she had rounded the ‘keeper. Auckland coach Sandy Davie started ringing the changes, introducing Gillian Thurlow to the fray on the half-hour at Melissa Wileman’s expense.
The substitution had almost immediate effect. An Andersen corner caused all sorts of problems in the 33rd minute, and not just for the Koreans. Crawford couldn’t direct it home, nor could Terry McCahill or Michele Cox, as a chance to put Auckland in front once again was spurned.
Thurlow herself went close with a header just before the interval, New Zealand’s Player of the Year, Crawford, having picked her out with a well-weighted free-kick.
As befitting an international team, the Koreans had offered Auckland a stern test to this point, playing with greater cohesion than the national champions. But the half-time introduction of Tarah Cox added some much-needed steel to Auckland’s midfield, and the “A Team slowly but surely gained the upper hand.
Chances for Auckland were also at a premium however, Andersen finding two opponents at her shoulder wherever she went, and Crawford enduring the same level of attention whenever she ventured forward. The latter forced a save from Soy in the 62nd minute, but the goalkeeper was beaten all ends up four minutes later by a screamer.
The impact Tarah Cox was having on the battle for midfield supremacy was such that her sister, Michele, could now begin to focus more on engineering South Korea’s downfall. She won possession just inside Korea’s half in the 66th minute, evaded two challenges and surged forward. Spotting Soy off her line, Cox let fly from twenty-five yards and left the ‘keeper clutching at thin air.
At 2-1, Auckland pressed forward in search of more goals, all the time needing to be wary of the Koreans’ speed on the break. Such raids weren’t as infrequent as the “A Team” would have liked, but McCahill’s positional sense (though not her distribution!) meant that Auckland’s second half goalkeeper, Rachel Howard, had little cause for concern, while Jennifer Carlisle was also rock-like when the need arose.
With Andersen and Crawford both having succumbed to the closer than desired attentions of their markers before the final whistle, the “A Team” finished the match a little lightweight in attack. But their 2-1 win ensured a perfect record in 1997 - seven wins from seven matches.
The South Koreans, meanwhile, recorded just one win on their tour, 4-0 over an Auckland Development Squad, after the national club champions, Three Kings United, outclassed them 3-0, with Andersen scoring a hat-trick.
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Auckland: Vale; Simpson, McCahill, Carlisle, Harrison; Jackman, M. Cox, Wileman, Clark; Andersen, Crawford.
Subs: Howard, Corner, Oostdam, T. Cox, Thurlow, Sharpe