The Palmerston North club is the first from Manawatu to reach the final in the 19 seasons of the national women’s knockout club competition and, with only three clubs from outside Auckland lifting the silverware in that time, Missen says her team are already on a high with Newtown Park almost offering a home final.
“Making history is something that is a huge motivation for us,” Missen says.
“We’ve got the sense of so much support from the rest of the region and want to win it for much more people than just ourselves. It’s so good having the final so close to our home town.
“We’ll have a lot of support and I know the other Central League teams are going to be there and it’s nice to know that even though we are great rivals during the rest of the year, they’re behind us when a team from their league is in such a big game.
“It’s a good position to be in. It takes a bit of pressure off us and removing the external expectation allows us just to go out there and play.”
“Having players like Emily McColl, Leah Gallie and Emma Boyack involved helps as they know those international players from Three Kings and know how they play. There are some excellent players in that Three Kings side but we’ve got some as well and those experienced players will help the rest of our team step up.”
Three Kings playmaker Annalie Longo isn’t letting Massey claim the underdog tag so easily.
The Football Fern’s return from the Olympics is a boost to a squad missing four players away with the Junior Football Ferns at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and who lost a number of international players at the end of last season, including some to professional clubs overseas.
“It’s more than respect for Massey,” Longo says.
“They’ve got some class players. The likes of Emily McColl are still good enough to play internationally and what works in their advantage is the fact that they can train together regularly whereas our season has been really disjointed by players travelling with national teams. If anything, that lack of continuity makes Three Kings the underdogs.”
Longo missed the final two years ago with injury when Three Kings lost a 5-4 extra-time thriller to Claudelands Rovers and says competing in a final means a lot to her, her teammates and the club.
“It’s the pinnacle of domestic women’s football in New Zealand so it’ll be huge for Three Kings. We haven’t won in a few years but have come close. Having lost so many Football Ferns players from the squad we weren’t expected to do so well in this competition and I’m really proud of the girls who have got us to the final.”
This year the MVP trophy for the women’s competition has been renamed after Maia Jackman in recognition of the recently-retired international, who won the competition five times with four different clubs.
The match kicks off at 11am at Newtown Park and will be followed by the 85th final of the ASB Chatham Cup at 2.30pm between Central United and Lower Hutt City.
19th ASB Women’s Knockout Cup Final
Three Kings United v Massey University
Sunday 26 August
Newtown Park, Wellington
Kick-off: 11am
Admission: Adults $10.00, Children U-15 free
Three Kings United: (from) 1-Joanna KENNEDY (GK), 2-Michelle WINDSOR, 3-Hannah HOEKSEMA, 4-Kristen MOLLOY, 5-Emily JENSEN, 6-Kirsty HAYR, 7-Chloe KNOTT, 8-Stephanie EATON, 9-Martine PUKETAPU, 10-Annalie LONGO, 11-Morany CHEK, 12-Jessie MATHEWS, 13-Shivanthi ANTHONY, 14-Hannah ROBERT, 17-Tina KOLOSE
Coach: Andrew CLAY
Massey University: (from) 1-Rachel INGRAM (GK), 2-Hollie CLEAVER, 3-Jane BENNETT, 4-Leah GALLIE, 5-Georgina GATENBY, 6-Coral SEATH, 7-Kate BENNETT, 8-Rhonda BRIDGES, 9-Emma BOYACK, 10-Emily MCCOLL, 11-Jess GREEN, 12-Rosie MISSEN (captain), 13-Charlotte HARRIS, 14-Karin INGRAM, 15-Jess OULAGHAN, 16-Siobhan PATTERSON, 17-Amy ALLISON, 71-Lisa KING (GK)
Coach: Simon LEES
Match Officials
Referee: Helen MALLON
Assistant Referee: Jacqui STEPHENSON
Assistant Referee: Nadia BROWNING
Fourth Official: Sarah WALKER
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand Football visit www.nzfootball.co.nz