THE Swan Hill men’s soccer team capped off their perfect season with the perfect finish, defeating La Trobe University 3-1 in Sunday’s Bendigo Amateur Soccer League division 2 Super Cup grand final.
The premiership win is the Swans’ second title for the 2024 season, having already won their division championship after going undefeated over the 14 round home-and-away season.
Swan Hill went into Sunday’s decider strong favourites to reverse the result of last year’s Super Cup grand final, with La Trobe University going into the match as reigning premiers.
All hope of a repeat for La Trobe was quickly snuffed out, with player of the match Joseph Costa scoring his first of two goals four minutes into the game.
It was a blistering start for Swan Hill and Costa, who returned to Swan Hill’s line-up mid-season after several years away from the game.
After Conner Brown’s strike bounced off the cross bar, Costa quickly pounced on the loose ball, with his hard-hit strike beating La Trobe goal keeper Mikey Johnstone’s outstretched hand to find the bottom corner.
Costa then iced the game in the second half with another match winning strike, with Swan Hill coach Tony Di Palma in awe of both Costa’s and his teammates 90 minute performance.
“His (Costa) second goal was unbelievable, it was honestly like something you would see in the premier league,” Di Palma said.
“I thought for sure it was going to sail over the cross bar, but it dipped late, hit the bottom of the bar and went in.
“The goal keeper had no chance of stopping it.
“Having said that, they (La Trobe) rose to the occasion when they got their first goal and they took it right up to us, but our boys stood their ground.
“We learnt our lesson from lest week and played the full 90 minutes, the boys didn’t stop and all had a positive attitude throughout the whole game.
“We defended well and our midfielders all did their job, Conner (Brown) was a little bit quiet but he played the perfect team game, he took away a couple of their good defenders because they were worried about him, which opened the door for Joseph (Costa) and that led to our third goal.”
Swan Hill had one hand on the cup at half-time, with Cooper Fox scoring one of his trademark headers to give the Swans a 2-0 lead at the break, before La Trobe’s Zac Gilmour reduced the margin to just one goal early into the second half.
With the grand final on the line and smelling an upset, La Trobe continued to press hard, but it was Costa who again stepped up to the plate, scoring his second goal in the 79th minute and extinguishing all hope for La Trobe.
“I’m absolutely stoked to be honest, for what the boys have done for this whole season, winning 14 games straight during the season and then the semi-final and grand final, this is a very special moment for our club,” Di Palma said.
“This is something our club has never achieved, to go through a full season winning every single match is very rare, especially given how our small our soccer community is here in Swan Hill.
“We might be small club, but we’re building quickly and building something very special and for our boys to achieve what they have this season is a real credit to them.
“This win is just a real confidence booster for our club, it doesn’t matter which division wins, it just gives the entire club a lift in confidence.
“Success breeds success and that goes for all our teams, whether it’s the women’s, boys, girls teams, today is just a huge day for our whole club.
“For me, this is the pinnacle, the last three years have been pretty good, but today is right up there with everything we’ve achieved.”
