A QUARTET of rising under-15s players from leading women’s soccer club, Northern Redbacks, in Balga are vying to impress Matildas selectors at the girls’ National Youth Championships.
Eve Moorecroft, Yanka Stobbe, Ruby Cohen and Jennifer McGlynn are representing WA at the championships in Coffs Harbour, NSW from July 16 to 20.
Fellow teammate Kaitlyn Bellanca trained and played with the squad in case of player injury.
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READ NOWThe players are the only state representatives from a club outside the National Training Centre (NTC) club, the elite development pathway for girls in WA.
Moorecroft said the girls play and train with both Redbacks and NTC at the weekends.
“We are in the B group this year, but I think we have a chance because we have been putting a lot of effort in training,” she said.
“Since we have come in, we have seen improvement in ourselves and it shows when we are playing in our games on Sunday with our normal team.”
WA and NTC coach Darren Young said while the team aimed to finish first after coming second last year, the championship was more about being given a chance to get recruited for national camps and teams.
Redbacks juniors coach Neil Bennett said it was a special feeling for the club to be able to produce players who could represent their state.
“We feel the selection of the girls is a clear sign that we are heading in the right direction with regard to junior player development.
“We hope that this will attract more junior players with ambitions to play at the highest levels to our club,” he said.