Ben Venue met Wollondilly half way, in Newcastle on Tuesday afternoon. It rained all morning and as the girls ran on, the rain cleared.

The girls came out strong and did not let the fact that the Wollondilly Public School team had a NSW U13 state and PSSA state player on their team get to them.  Ben Venue worked extremely hard as a team and used every player. 

Every player contributed 100 per cent. 

Ben Venue had the majority of the field play.  Wollondilly had a few break away plays when their state player injected herself into the game.  She was very talented.  But our defence and mid field held strong and worked together extremely well and shut her down.

Ben Venue had multiple chances at goals and finally slotted one away with a beautiful ball from Charlotte Portel to Lucy Deiderick who dragged the keeper and slotted it in the corner.  Half-time saw Ben Venue leading 1-nil.  Ben Venue knew that Wollondilly were going to come out strong in the second half.  Jeanie Inglis and Charlotte Portel held the centre and really limited how much ball the Wollondilly playermaker got.

Mid way into the second-half a ball was crossed into our attacking circle, where Ellesse Peltonen was sitting at the top of the circle, weaved her magic and slotted the second goal in for Ben Venue.

With only minutes remaining on the clock, the Wollondilly play maker and NSW representative made a break away, ended up with a penalty corner.  Ella Whitty saved her initial shot on goal, but was left off balance when she cleared the ball straight back to her.  The Wollondilly girl then slotted it into the corner.

Full time whistle sounded with Ben Venue making their way to Sydney on September 18 for the finals of the top four teams.

Boys: The Ben Venue’s boys’ soccer team played their round 6 PSSA knockout match last Friday against Moree.

In the opening 10 minutes Ben Venue had much of the possession and several goal attempts but were unable to open the scoring.

Myles Harris scored in the 15th minute following a deflection off a Moree defender. Austin Johns was able to find the back of the net only one minute later and Ben Venue held a handy 2-nil lead at halftime.

In the second half Ben Venue continued to dominate possession and Moree rarely got into their attacking half.

Byron Kollosche put Ben Venue ahead 3-nil with a clever scoring shot mid-way through the half.

The Boys now go on to play the Regional Final against Tamworth Public School on Monday, September 10.

Girls: Congratulations to the girls’ soccer team for their outstanding effort on Friday when they played Guyra Central School in round six of the PSSA Girls Football Knockout.

The Ben Venue Girls attacked for the majority of the game although couldn’t manage a goal leaving the score nil all at full time.

Despite dominating possession in extra time the Guyra team defence was incredibly strong, which made scoring difficult for the Ben Venue girls.

Unfortunately, Guyra scored a lucky goal in the fourth minute of extra time leaving the score 1-nil.

Congratulations to all members of the team and thank you to the parents, grandparents and friends for their help and support.