‘We’ve broken the curse’: Euroa lifts Deakin hex with big win over Shepparton United

It may well have been longer; Euroa captain Kellie Davidson can attest to that.

“I definitely haven’t won here since I’ve been playing, so it was great to get a win at Deakin Reserve,” she said.

“The rumour is A-grade haven’t won here in eight years, so we’ve broken the curse.”

Boasting a 29-goal winning margin, Euroa’s lifting of the hex may appear comfortable on paper, but it wasn’t so ― at least for the first quarter of the Goulburn Valley League clash.

The Magpies found themselves in a good, tight fight through the midcourt as Davidson went toe-to-toe with Laura Cole in a riveting centre battle.

It was goal-for-goal until the final minutes before the opening break, when United faltered ever so slightly to allow the visiting side to stretch its neck out for a 15-12 lead.

Euroa’s Mia Sudomirski continuously found pockets of space inside the ring, crafty in creating angles and deadly in dispatching chances throughout the second quarter.

United relied on the physical game of Bess Schinoffsky in goal defence and, try as she may, the Magpies’ tact in attack shot them out to an 11-goal buffer by the half.

Which is where things got ugly for the Demons.

Bree Poole returned from a stint on the bench into wing attack for Euroa, bringing drive and purpose while supplying Sudomirski and Annabelle Gorman with chance after chance as the travellers piled on 23 goals to United’s nine in the third term.

Euroa forced a ludicrous amount of turnovers, with Tylah Marchbank and Grace Warnock rolling down the shutters in defence ― business hours were closed for the home team and it knew it.

Frustration was rife among United’s goaling end and it carried through to the finish as some inefficiencies cost Jeanette Serra’s charges on the offensive front.

“We knew Shepp United were going to be tough, they have a really great line-up and I think that first quarter was a grind,” Davidson said.

“We dropped behind at the start, but then it was really good to see the girls pull back and put together four quarters in the end.

“It started close and I think we were really working hard on our centre pass defence, we caused a lot of turnovers in that area.

“We were a bit messy early, but then we were able to find space and find our goalers later on in the game ― the space really opened up nicely when we were hitting the ring.”

For United, Cole performed strongly as did Schinoffsky, while Davidson waxed lyrical about Sudomirski and Poole.

Though it now sits on top of the ladder, Euroa girds up for games against third and fourth-placed Seymour and Echuca to round out the month.

“I think we’ve had some good high margin wins the last couple of weeks, but we know Seymour and Echuca are going to be really tough games,” Davidson said.

“I think it’ll be good for us to play some of those top teams who we will maybe come up against in finals.

“It will be really tough and we will need to put out four quarters and tidy up a bit.”

In other games, Mooroopna claimed the Blue Ribbon Shield after toppling Shepparton Swans 50-35 at Princess Park, with Caitlin McLachlan (Mooroopna) named best-on-court.

Rochester closed the gap between itself and Shepparton to four points, seeing off the Bears by six goals in a goal-heavy match.

Lastly, Seymour holds third after beating Benalla 81-20, while Tatura and Echuca scored big wins over Mansfield and Kyabram respectively.