Melbourne Victory match-winner Kyra Cooney-Cross wanted to avoid penalties before her decisive goal against Sydney FC.
The Westfield W-League Grand Final looked headed for a penalty shoot-out before Cooney-Cross curled in directly from a corner in the 120th minute to give Victory a 1-0 win at Jubilee Stadium on Sunday.
Victory claimed its second championship and first since 2013/14 thanks to Cooney-Cross’ heroics.
“I was just thinking that I didn’t want to go to penalties,” the Victory star told Fox Sports.
“I was stressing about that probably as soon as we went into extra-time.”
Cooney-Cross and Lisa De Vanna hit the crossbar in the first half and Victory was repeatedly denied by Sydney goalkeeper Jada Whyman.
The 19-year-old felt her team deserved its success after a strong performance.
“We had so many chances tonight. We had a few crossbars,” Cooney-Cross said.
“Kudos to Jada, she did a lot of saves tonight, some big ones. I think we deserved to win tonight.”
