Women's Team Season 2011-2012 roundup

by Ayrton Galea - 10th May 2012

Seeing that Birkirkara Women's Team have finished their commitments for this season, we are going to present the highlights of this successful season, which also had its disappointing moments.

The season opened and ended on the same note, a loss in a final against rivals Mosta. However, what definitely matters most was winning the League and this was dominated by Birkirkara as they proved to be the most powerful right from the start and ended the league campaign unbeaten.

Another positive note was the large amount of youngsters that Mr. Johann Scicluna used throughout this season which makes the satisfaction of this success even bigger and makes the future a lot brighter.

When one looks back to this season which has just ended, one cannot but mention the persons who worked really hard and helped in no small way to make this season a success. All the technical staff members, Head Coach Mr. Scicluna, Mr. Tommy Camilleri and his wife Tracy, Mr. Raymond Parnis and his wife Doreen all contributed to this success.

Last but not least, one should praise the players who gave their part in this successful season, as in every match they gave their best and they were always determined to reach their targets.

Women's Super Cup

Since Birkirkara won the knock out competition of the previous season, they qualified for the Women's Super Cup against Mosta who were league champions. In the first honour of the season, in a balanced match, Mosta managed to win the cup with a narrow 1-0 lead to win the first cup of the season.

Women's First Division League

The most important and prestigious honour was on the way, and Birkirkara were crowned unbeaten champions.

In this competition, Birkirkara played seventeen matches and were awarded a walk-over victory, which means that they won fourteen and the other four matches ended in a draw. They scored 74 goals while conceding just eight to register the best attack and the best defence of the competition.

The earliest goal was scored by Charlene Schembri on the 5th mintue in the second round match against Marsa which was played on the 13 December, 2011 where ‘The Stripes' trounced their opponents with a 9-0 score. On the other hand, the latest goal was scored by Gabriella Zahra on the 92nd minute in the third round match against Gozo

Throughout the league campaign, Birkirkara registered no less than 12 clean-sheets while it was only in one match, in the second round against Mosta which was played on the 20 December, that ‘The Stripes' failed to find the net.

The biggest win registered was on the 28th October 2011, when Birkirkara humiliated Marsa with a very comfortable 12-0 score.

One walk-over victory was given to Birkirkara when they were set to face Marsa on the 21 February, 2012. However, Marsa withdrew from the league, and according to the Competition Rules of the MFA, the opponents of Marsa for the remaining games were awarded a win.

Head Coach Mr. Johann Scicluna made use of no less than 23 different players which forms part of the First Team. Only Gabriella Zahra managed to begin all seventeen matches while the most used substitute is Raina Giusti who was included no less than nine times.

Only seven yellow cards were shown to Birkirkara players while only one player was sent off in this competition.

Rachel Cuschieri was the team's top scorer with 17 goals followed by striker Kelly Agius Pace with 15 goals and Gabriella Zahra who scored 10 goals.

Birkirkara were presented with the deserved League title on the 27 March after ending their league commitments with a 2-2 draw against Hibernians which enabled ‘The Stripes' to complete the league unbeaten.

Women's Knock Out

With the Birkirkara players still on cloud nine, following their impressive success in the league, they were involved in another prestigious competition, the Knock-out Trophy.

In the Quater Final match which was played on the 24 April, they eliminated Gozo with a 4-3 score thanks to penalty shoot out after the score was still 1-1 after the extra time period.

The Semi Final saw Birkirkara facing rivals Hibernians and in a match that was played on 1st May, Birkirkara scored two goals in the second half of the extra time period to eliminate their rivals with a 3-1 score.

The much awaited final match, which was played on the 8th May, saw Birkirkara facing another rival team, this time Mosta. Following a balanced encounter, it was Mosta who lifted the cup after beating Birkirkara with a 4-2 score thanks to the penalty shoot out.

This match brought the 2011-2012 season to an end, a season which was definitely a successful one with some disappointment too, but will surely remain in the memory of the players and technical staff.

On behalf of this website, we would like to congratulate the Women's Team for this positive season while hoping that these type of performances, and determination will continue in the coming years.

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