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2024 Lotto NPWL Awards
Honours Not Confined To Main Trophies For Champions
by Jeremy Ruane
Auckland United's dominance of the domestic scene in 2024 has extended to the season's individual honours, with three of the five Lotto Northern Premier Women's League gongs heading to Keith Hay Park performers.
On the back of a 39-match unbeaten run in all competitions in the last eleven months, and being the first club in the history of the game in New Zealand to hold all four senior honours - OFC Women's Champions League, National Women's League, Kate Sheppard Cup and the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League title - simultaneously, The Jeremy Ruane Trophy, awarded for Meritorious Achievement by a team or individual from the Northern Women's football region, is a deserved addition to United's accolades in their quite remarkable campaign.
Two of the stars of the team are also recognised for their performances throughout the season. Saskia Vosper has been quite outstanding throughout the campaign, and takes out the Player of the Year award for a string of consistent high quality displays, intermingled with some outstanding goals, none better than the snorter which capped off the emphatic Kate Sheppard Cup quarter-final triumph over West Coast Rangers.
Marissa Porteous, last season's Most Improved Player, had a fine season for the league's most improved team, so much so that she finished runner-up to Vosper in the Player of the Year stakes, with the winner's team-mate, United's midfield general Yumi Harashima, rounding out the top three.
Succeeding Porteous as the Most Improved Player award winner is another member of Auckland's regular starters. Greer MacIntosh has come on leaps and bounds in 2024, and her partnership with last season's Player of the Year, Chelsea Elliott, has been pivotal in United's outstanding defensive effort - just thirteen goals conceded in 31 games to date this year.
Former United striker Shannon Henson headed west last summer, and her efforts for West Coast Rangers saw her claim the Golden Boot, with sixteen goals for a striker who made a strong impression for the runners-up in the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League.
The player who finished immediately behind Henson in the Golden Boot stakes is this season's Young Player of the Year. Danica Urlich-Beech has really made her mark in 2024, leading Hibiscus Coast from the front in a campaign which saw this promising side well and truly in the mix for the top four at one stage.
Southern United know a good thing when they see one, and haven't been slow in signing up "DUB" for their National Women's League campaign, a stage on which this writer is confident the just-turned-twenty-year-old will shine. And with the Football Ferns now needing to build anew for Brazil 2027 and beyond, being a late bloomer may well play into her hands where national selection is concerned. Go for it, champ!
Thus the curtain comes down on the 52nd Lotto Northern Premier Women's League campaign, with the best league in the country continuing to deliver - one need only think back to the situation heading into the final week of the campaign, when every single fixture still to be played had something riding on it, be it the title, a top four placing or relegation.
It doesn't get much better than that!
Details:
Player of the Year - Saskia Vosper (Auckland United)
Young Player of the Year - Danica Urlich-Beech (Hibiscus Coast)
Most Improved Player - Greer MacIntosh (Auckland United)
Golden Boot - Shannon Henson (West Coast Rangers)
The Jeremy Ruane Trophy - Auckland United
|
 Auckland United
 Classic Saskia Vosper (Auckland United) action, here tackling Sofia Garcia (Eastern Suburbs)
 Greer MacIntosh (Auckland United)
 Shannon Henson (West Coast Rangers)
 Danica Urlich-Beech (Hibiscus Coast)
National Women's League action
starts on the last weekend in September
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LOTTO NORTHERN WOMEN'S PREMIERSHIP GOLDEN BOOT
Goals
|
Player
|
Club
|
16
|
Shannon Henson
|
West Coast Rangers
|
14
|
Danica Urlich-Beech
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
13
|
Charlotte Roche
|
Auckland United
|
|
"oggies"
|
|
11
|
Zoe Benson
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Sofia Garcia
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Bree Johnson
|
West Coast Rangers
1 for Auckland United
|
10
|
Rene Wasi
|
Auckland United
|
8
|
Alexis Cook
|
Auckland United
|
|
Emily Lyon
|
West Coast Rangers
|
7
|
Megan Lee
|
Western Springs
|
6
|
Lily Brazendale
|
Hamilton Wanderers
|
|
Anelise Karakostas
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Rosie Missen
|
Fencibles United
|
5
|
Rina Hirano
|
Western Springs
|
|
Shion Hwang
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Kitty Jacob
|
Western Springs
|
|
Chloe Knott
|
Auckland United
|
|
Millie Loxton
|
Fencibles United
|
4
|
Taylah Byers
|
Fencibles United
|
|
Talisha Green
|
Auckland United
|
|
Hollie Leona
|
Ellerslie
|
|
Maddi Ollington
|
Hamilton Wanderers
|
|
Angela Pivac
|
Auckland United
|
|
Marissa Porteous
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Cat Smith
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Arisa Takeda
|
Western Springs
|
3
|
Leigh Aitken
|
Ellerslie
|
|
Kate Berry
|
Fencibles United
|
|
Kenya Brooke
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Danielle Canham
|
Auckland United
|
|
Maisy Dewell
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Chelsea Elliott
|
Auckland United
|
|
Luci Hollister
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Maia Lythe
|
Western Springs
|
|
Stacey Martin
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
|
Ruby Nathan
|
Auckland United
|
|
Stella Neems
|
Hamilton Wanderers
|
|
Lorna Selby
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Anita Trudgen
|
Ellerslie
|
|
Abby Wright
|
Ellerslie
|
2
|
Ella Findlay
|
Western Springs
|
|
Lauren Henry
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
|
Gabrielle Hislop
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
|
Suzy Jung
|
Fencibles United
|
|
Mischa Marais
|
Fencibles United
|
|
Kate McConnell
|
Auckland United
|
|
Hayley Miller
|
Fencibles United
|
|
Kimberley Oosterbeek
|
Ellerslie
|
|
Hannah Saxon
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Sydney Sparks
|
Western Springs
|
|
Anya Stephan
|
Western Springs
|
|
Miya Stott
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
|
Laney Strachan
|
Ellerslie
|
|
Nicole Stratford
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Sienna Vercauteren
|
Fencibles United
1 for Western Springs
|
|
Saskia Vosper
|
Auckland United
|
1
|
Alosi Bloomfield
|
Western Springs
|
|
Millie Boyle
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Zoe Brazier
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Penny Brill
|
Auckland United
|
|
Grace Chitty
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
|
Lyric Davison
|
Ellerslie
|
|
Lily Dowsett
|
Fencibles United
|
|
Kate Duncan
|
Ellerslie
|
|
Olivia Erskine
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Sian Field
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
|
Erin Freeman
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Anna Fullerton
|
Hamilton Wanderers
|
|
Hannah Gray
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
|
Yume Harashima
|
Auckland United
|
|
Tiana Hill
|
Western Springs
|
|
Jess Innes
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Lily Jervis
|
Western Springs
|
|
Mackenzie Longmuir
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Greer MacIntosh
|
Auckland United
|
|
Julia Robinson
|
Ellerslie
|
|
Liz Savage
|
Western Springs
|
|
Kailey Short
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Jessica Smith
|
Hibiscus Coast
|
|
Sammi Tawharu
|
Eastern Suburbs
|
|
Louise Turley
|
Fencibles United
|
|
Taylor Vujnovich
|
West Coast Rangers
|
|
Saki Yoshida
|
Eastern Suburbs
|