A penalty shootout was required after the Mariners and Melbourne Victory were locked 1-1 after 120 minutes of heart-in-mouth football action before our local heroes stepped up to ice the Grand Final.
The Mariners women will now be feted at a community Grand Final celebration at Erina Fair this week, welcomed back home by Central Coast Mayor Lawrie McKinna – a former Mariners coach and Director of Football.
While fans packed into the Grand Final venue of AAMI Park in Melbourne and at the official Live Site at Industree Group Stadium in Gosford, hotels, clubs and restaurants were packed along the Central Coast as the drama of the Grand Final played out on Sunday evening.
From Gosford to Wyong, Terrigal, The Entrance, Ettalong Beach, Budgewoi and Bateau Bay, the fans were out in force in support of the Central Coast girls in yellow.
A third successive football championship – and a first-ever women’s title – was a grand occasion that the 350,000-plus residents on the Central Coast will never forget and it has left a football legacy for generations to come.
The Mariners had finished fourth in the regular season yet they defied the odds to sink the three-time champions on a momentous night at AAMI Park, Melbourne – a week after lowering the colours of Melbourne City who had previously been uneaten throughout the season.
As coach Emily Husband and her band of Coast girls celebrated the amazing victory, the Central Coast community was toasting a third successive Grand Final A-League victory in as many years.
The Mariners women’s Ninja A-League title came on the back of an unprecedented run of success by the Mariners men who won back-to-back championships in 2022/23 and 2023/24 as well as a triple crown in the latter season.
Thousands of Mariners fans filled the stands at AAMI Park, Melbourne and also at the official Grand Final Live Site at Gosford’s Industree Group Stadium – the spiritual home of the Mariners club.
For coach Husband and the Mariners, it capped a remarkable journey as the club only returned to the Ninja A-League women’s competition two seasons ago after a 14-year hiatus.
“I’m speechless,” Mariners coach Emily Husband said at fulltime.
“I always thought this group of girls was capable of something extraordinary and we knew we were out there representing the people of the Central Coast.”
A third successive football championship – and a first-ever women’s title – was a grand occasion that the 350,000-plus residents on the Central Coast will never forget and it has left a football legacy for generations to come.
