Echuca Moama Border Raiders Ella McDonald (second from left) and Lola Beriman (back row, sixth from left) lift the under-12 girls trophy with their Greater Bendigo teammates at the Football Victoria Country Championships.
Echuca Moama Border Raiders saw strong representation at the Football Victoria Country Championships held last weekend in Geelong, with a total of 10 players competing for Greater Bendigo representative sides.
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A major highlight from the three-day tournament was Border Raiders duo Ella McDonald and Lola Beriman playing their part in the under-12 girls winning their competition.
Lola Beriman with her medal and the under-12 girls trophy.
Each team first competes in a round-robin phase, with the top four on the ladder qualifying for the semi-finals, and the under-12 side went undefeated to finish top of its group.
Greater Bendigo went on to win two tight clashes to be crowned under-12 girls champion, first defeating Gippsland on penalties in the semi-final before edging past Geelong 1-0 in the grand final.
Border Raider McDonald said she was emotional and overwhelmed with the triumph, which was also the only title Greater Bendigo claimed across all age groups.
Ella McDonald with her medal and the trophy.
Elsewhere, locals Gus Wood and William Colliver featured in the under-11 boys competition, with Wood being captain of the Greater Bendigo White side and Colliver playing for Greater Bendigo Blue.
Though the two teams struggled, neither making finals as White finished ninth and Blue 10th, it was an impressive feat for the two Border Raiders to make the squads, as 67 total players tried out for the 22 under-11 boys spots.
Locals Gus Wood (left) and William Colliver (right) played for Greater Bendigo's under-11 boys side.
Echuca Moama also had six players compete across the two under-14 Greater Bendigo squads, with Jade McDonald, Evie Frew, and Charley Schwencke in the girls side and Aarav Bhatia, Chase Fountain, and captain Edward Melville in the boys.
Both teams recorded similar results, the girls placing fourth in their five-team competition before losing 1-0 to Geelong in the semi-finals, which went on to win the decider.
The boys’ fate was almost identical, also finishing fourth before Geelong proved a thorn in Greater Bendigo again, beating the side 2-0 in the semi-finals and also following it up with another grand final success.
Greater Bendigo under-14 boys captain Edward Melville.
The 10 Border Raiders who played in Geelong started training with their representative sides in February.
They then competed in a junior pre-season competition dubbed Boys and Girls FC, a pre-cursor to the country championships that takes place in Bendigo every March, providing each with plenty of opportunity to impress in a different environment from the local Border Raiders scene.
“It's a really great program, all the kids seem to get a lot out of the whole six months of training and the two tournaments that they put in, so the first one in Bendigo (Boys and Girls FC), and the second one obviously in Geelong or a different location every year,” Border Raiders junior coordinator Shakira Wood said.
“One of the best parts about it is every Saturday when they play a different club, they seem to know people on the opposition team, so just making friends in different towns.”
Border Raider Charley Schwencke dribbles past a defender for the Greater Bendigo under-14 girls.
The Echuca Moama players also had a hand in Greater Bendigo being awarded the Corrie Koppen Fair Play Award, given to the region that best conducted itself in the spirit of the game at the championships.
Alongside player representation, Border Raiders women’s co-coach Paige Pinson led the Greater Bendigo under-16 girls outfit in Geelong, the side experiencing a challenging tournament as it placed bottom of its group.
