Three finals wins as footballers' winning streak continues

Jason Tozer

26 September 2006: The University of Canberra Pumas continued their success from last weekend winning the men's Division 2, Division 6 and Division 7 grand finals on Sunday.

The Pumas Division 2 team defeated Belconnen United 3 - 1 at Hawker Oval while at O'Connor Encolosed Fields their Division 6 and Division 7 teams defeated Belwest, 3 - 1, and ADFA, 2 - 1, respectively.

The University's victorious division 2 side

Pumas Division 2 player and coach Mark Dowling along with captain Adrian Di Crescenzo are the only remaining players from the 2001 premiership side.

Dowling said though there was a sense of immense satisfaction and pride, there was also a lot of relief in the win.

"Having won the league championship following a 13 game winning streak, anything less than a win in the grand final would left a bitter taste despite a very successful season," Dowling said.

The reality of having their successful season collapse at the final hurdle was all too real when Belconnen United's Mitch Parker found the back of the net after 25 minutes of play.

However, the Pumas struck back five minutes later from the boot of Craig Unwin and went into the break level with their opposition.

The Pumas struck again only three minutes into the second half with Bevan Straube putting the University into the lead.

Moments after Belconnen's Murray Clissold was shown a red card in the 78 th minute for a second bookable offence, Jo Oyanagi scored the Pumas final goal and made the victory conclusive.

Dowling said that the result was undoubtedly a team effort but notes that a few players found something special on the day.

"For me as coach, the standout performances were from centre defender Phil Ladomirski, our lone striker Ian Stewart and Danny Agnello through whom most ofour dangerous attack went through," Dowling said.

Goal-scorers for the Pumas' Division 6 team were Joe Laria and Paul Mullins with a double and for the Division 7 team Chris Hamill and Rob Petrovski.

The three premierships are the first for any men's team at the club since their Division 1 premiership in 2002, as such all the players partied hard after their games and continued celebrations with a Mad Monday golf session.

Read about last week's success for the women's team:

University women victorious in football final