Sport
8 July, 2025
Avoca keep perfect record for 2025 season intact
Avoca remains undefeated in 2025 following another impressive performance against Dunolly, leading to a 38-goal victory.
After their memorable win over rivals Natte Bealiba last week, the Bulldogs welcomed back premiership player Stacey Blair into the side as well as called up Isabella Thomson for her A grade debut after some great performances in B grade.
Only one change was made to the Dunolly side who registered their first win of the season against Maldon, with the impactful Lillie Wrigley unable to play.
The Eagles started well against the reigning premiers, yet the Bulldogs showed their bite early, building a 17-8 lead by quarter time.
Dunolly’s Demcy Fraser held her own early when tasked with defending 2024 MCDFNL top goal-scorer Maddy Egan, who scored 12 goals in the second quarter while her teammate Gina Beavis added five.
Zoe Aldridge repeated her strong start the week prior against Maldon, netting seven goals from 10 shots in the first period.
The visitors weren’t complacent in the second quarter, tinkering with their lineup during the term to try and build on their encouraging start.
After making her A grade debut the week prior, Mia Schodde played well in the midcourt, marking Blair and assisting Melanie Schodde and Ruby Lang in getting the ball to their new shooting tandem of Aldridge and Leah Davis, who combined to score nine goals for the quarter.
The changes helped the Eagles improve in the second quarter, however, an almost robotic shooting performance from Egan and Beavis increased the Bulldogs advantage to 16 goals at half time.
The duo had 16 shots between themselves in the second quarter and every shot hit the bottom of the net, a remarkable feat which kept Avoca in control.
The Bulldogs retained that control in the third quarter despite some strong passages from the Eagles, adding another eight goals to their lead at three-quarter time.
While they inevitably cooled from their automatic shooting in the second quarter, Egan and Beavis remained clinical in the second half, with Egan leading with 12 and Beavis adding five.
With Davis moved back into the midcourt, Aldridge was Dunolly’s main option forward, scoring five goals in the third period.
Even as they entered the fourth quarter with a 24-goal lead, Avoca wanted to send a message in the final quarter, holding Dunolly to two goals in the last 15 minutes to blow out the final score to 66-28.
Egan could have easily been mistaken for a sniper on Saturday with her sharpshooting, finishing with an astonishing 95 percent conversion rate after scoring a game-high 46 goals, which included converting all eight of her shots in the final period. Beavis also scored eight for the quarter.